• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.163-169
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• 2004

Worldwide, tuberculosis remains one of the leading infectious diseases, accounting for nearly 3 million deaths and more than 8 million new cases annually. DNA typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is important for the control of tuberculosis, since it can be used to track transmission route of tuberculosis, source of internal laboratory contaminations, and to answer questions on the nature of tuberculosis infections such as reactivation or exogenous reinfection of disease. At present, IS6110-based RFLP is the choice of method for typing large numbers of clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis, since it has the highest resolution power. However, RFLP requires long time, high cost and qualified experts, so only reference level laboratories can use the RFLP technique. In order to have an optional molecular typing method suitable for the clinical settings, this study evaluated the use of one of PCR-based typing methods, IS6110-based outward PCR for typing clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis. In brief, the results from this study showed that IS6110-based RFLP is useful to discriminate diverse clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis as well as to identify clinical isolates that belong to the same family or cluster groups that have been previously classified by RFLP analysis. In addition, the banding profiles resulted from IS6110-based outward PCR seemed to represent genomic characteristics of M. tuberculosis, since strains belong to the K-family generated unique band that is not present in any other strains but present only in the genome of K-family strains. The IS6110-based outward PCR was also shown to be useful with DNAs isolated directly from liquid cultures indicating this method can be suitable for typing M. tuberculosis in clinical settings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권18호
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• pp.7857-7861
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• 2014

Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in anti-tumor immunity. Interleukin (IL)-18 is an immunoregulatory cytokine that induces potent NK cell-dependent anti-tumor responses when administrated with other cytokines. In this study, we explored the effects of combining IL-18 and IL-2 on NK cytotoxicity as well as expression levels of the NK cell receptor NKG2D in vitro. Freshly isolated PBMCs were incubated for 48 h with IL-18 and IL-2, then CD107a expression on $CD3^-CD56^+$ NK cells was determined by three-colour flow cytometry to evaluate the cytotoxicity of NK cells against human erythroleukemia K562 cells and human colon carcinoma HT29 cells. Flow cytometric analysis was also employed to determine NKG2D expression on NK cells. The combined use of IL-18 and IL-2 significantly increased CD107a expression on NK cells compared with using IL-18 or IL-2 alone, suggesting that the combination of these two cytokines exerted synergistic enhancement of NK cytotoxicity. IL-18 also enhanced NKG2D expression on NK cells when administered with IL-2. In addition, blockade of NKG2D signaling with NKG2D-blocking antibody attenuated the up-regulatory effect of combining IL-18 and IL-2 on NK cytolysis. Our data revealed that IL-18 synergized with IL-2 to dramatically enhance the cytolytic activity of human NK cells in a NKG2D-dependent manner. The results appear encouraging for the use of combined IL-18 and IL-2 in tumor immunotherapy.

• 한국임상약학회지
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.77-82
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• 2017

Background: Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD) is a leading cause of hospital-associated gastrointestinal illness. Risk factors for CDAD include advanced age, long-term admission, antibiotics, proton-pump inhibitor or $H_2$ blocker use and immunosuppression. The practice guideline of American Journal of Gastroenterology (2013) suggests metronidazole for the first-line therapy of mild-moderate CDAD as well as vancomycin for severe CDAD. MICU inpatients receiving stress ulcer prophylaxis and antibiotics are susceptible to nosocomial CDAD. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate occurrence and treatment of CDAD in MICU. Methods: Patients who were admitted to the MICU and had CDAD from August 2012 to August 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Of the 90 patients with CDAD, 20 patients (2.22%) had mild-moderate CDAD (16 received metronidazole and 4 received vancomycin therapy) and 70 patients (77.8%) had severe CDAD(54 received metronidazole and 16 received vancomycin therapy). Among the patients with mild- moderate CDAD, treatment with metronidazole or vancomycin resulted in same clinical cure in 50% of the patients (p=1.00). Among the patients with severe CDAD, treatment with metronidazole or vancomycin resulted in clinical cure in 40.7% and 50.0% of the patients, respectively (p=0.511). Clinical symptoms recurred in 7.4% of the severe CDAD patients treated with metronidazole and 6.3% of those treated with vancomycin(p=0.875). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that metronidazole and vancomycin are equally effective for the treatment of mild-moderate CDAD; however, vancomycin demonstrated higher clinical cure rate and lower recurrence rate for severe CDAD, although the difference was not statistically significant. For better clinical outcomes, appropriate medication use by disease severity is needed.

• 문화기술의 융합
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.77-83
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• 2021

본 연구는 간호대학생 4학년을 대상으로 자기자비정도와 갈등해결전략이 임상실습 적응에 미치는 영향을 탐색하여 간호대학생들의 긍정적인 임상실습적응을 위한 교육훈련방안 마련 시 기초자료로 제공하기 위해 시도되었다. 간호대학생 4학년 243명의 자료를 SPSS/WIN 22.0 프로그램을 이용하여 분석하였다. 임상실습적응에 영향을 미치는 요인을 탐색한 결과, 임상실습만족도가 높을수록, 자기 스스로 고립되지 않으며, 과잉동일시 하지 않고, 갈등해결전략으로 타협을 사용하고 회피와 지배를 사용하지 않을 때 순으로 영향을 미쳤다. 이들 변인은 간호대학생들의 임상실습 적응도를 설명하는데 43.3%의 영향력을 나타내었다

• 대한한방내과학회지
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.225-238
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• 2021

Objective: This research reviews and investigates the trends in recent clinical studies of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) in China. Method: We searched for clinical studies discussing Oriental medicine-based treatments for PKD in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. Thirteen clinical articles published from 2001 to 2019 were analyzed. The search focused on the authors, publication year, type of study, purposes of study, method and duration of treatment, evaluation criteria, and results of the selected articles. Results: Of the articles from the database, 9 case series and 4 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were analyzed. Ten articles used herbal medicine; 4 used herbal medicine for external use. Gamigyejibokryeong-hwan was the most common herbal prescription. The most frequently used herb was Polia Sclerotium (茯苓), and Cnidii Rhizoma (川芎) was employed in all the external uses. All 13 studies confirmed the efficacy of Oriental medicine treatments. Conclusion: 1. Scientifically designed and more varied clinical studies are required to develop treatments for PKD. 2. The current study could be used as basic data in future clinical studies on treatment and further studies of PKD.

• 대한이식학회지
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• 제31권4호
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• pp.157-169
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• 2017

Regulatory T cells (Treg) naturally rein in immune attacks, and they can inhibit rejection of transplanted organs and even reverse the progression of autoimmune diseases in mice. The initial safety trials of Treg against graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) provided evidence that the adoptive transfer of Treg is safe and capable of limiting disease progression. Supported by such evidence, numerous clinical trials have been actively investigating the efficacy of Treg targeting autoimmune diseases, type I diabetes, and organ transplant rejection, including kidney and liver. The limited quantity of Treg cells harvested from peripheral blood and subsequent in vitro culture have posed a great challenge to large-scale clinical application of Treg; nevertheless, the concept of CAR (chimeric antigen receptor)-Treg has emerged as a potential resolution to the problem. Recently, two CAR-T therapies, tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel, were approved by the US FDA for the treatment of refractory or recurrent acute lymhoblastic leukemia. This approval could serve as a guideline for the production protocols for other genetically engineered T cells for clinical use as well. The phase I and II clinical trials of these agents has demonstrated that genetically engineered and antigen-targeting T cells are safe and efficacious in humans. In conclusion, both the promising results of Treg cell therapy from the clinical studies and the recent FDA approval of CAR-T therapies are paving the way for CAR-Treg therapy in clinical use.

• 대한한방내과학회지
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.146-157
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• 2023

Restless leg syndrome is a nervous system disorder that causes an overpowering urge to move one's legs. Symptoms of restless leg syndrome usually worsen when one tries to fall asleep and can prevent sufficient sleep. Restless leg syndrome is common in patients with chronic kidney failure and can be caused or worsened by chronic kidney failure and hemodialysis. Various medications can treat restless leg syndrome, though the long-term use of medications can cause augmentation and adverse effects. In addition, the use of dopamine agonists is limited in patients with chronic kidney failure. This is because the dose of administration should be controlled for patients with chronic kidney failure, and the treatment effect has not been clearly proven. This study reports the case of a 56-year-old male diagnosed with chronic kidney failure complaining of uncomfortable leg sensations. The patient underwent Korean medicine treatment using Jakyakgamcho-tang. The IRLS, NRS, and AIS scores were evaluation tools during treatment. This study suggested significantly improved symptoms through the individual interventions of Jakyakgamcho-tang in a restless leg syndrome patient with chronic kidney failure.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.1705-1708
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• 2012

The inception of targeted agents has revolutionized the cancer therapy paradigm, both for physicians and patients. A large number of molecular targeted agents for cancer therapy are currently available for clinical use today. Many more are in making, but there are issues that remain to be resolved for the scientific as well as social community before the recommendation of their widespread use in may clinical scenarios can be done, one such issue being cost and cost effectiveness, others being resistance and lack of sustained efficacy. With the current knowledge about available targeted agents, the growing knowledge of intricate molecular pathways and unfolding of wider spectrum of molecular targets that can really matter in the disease control, calls for only the just use of the agents available now, drug companies need to make a serious attempt to reduce the cost of the agents. Research should focus on agents that show sustained responses in preclinical data. More needs to be done in laboratories and by the pharmaceutical industries, before we can truly claim to have entered a new era of targeted therapy in cancer care.

• 대한한의학회지
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.179-188
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• 2001

Diarrhea is the frequent passage of loose, watery stool (frequency: ${\geq}4/day$, weight: ${\geq}250g/day$) Most antibiotics can cause inflammatory change of the colon or Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC). Typical presentations of PMC are watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, leukocytosis ($12,000~20,000/\textrm{mm}^3$), hypoalbuminemia, hypovolemia and recent or concurrent use of antibiotics. Diagnostic methods of PMC are stool assay, sigmoid scopy, abdominal CT, abdominal US, etc. The age-related susceptibility noted with PMC is impressive but unexplained. Two stroke patients had diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever hypoalbuminemia and a history of recent or concurrent use of antibiotics. By use of Shirhyung- Tang, we could improve clinical symptoms (diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever hypoalbuminemia, etc.) and so report clinical course of two stroke patients with antibiotics-associated PMC.

• 대한임상검사과학회지
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.167-177
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• 2012

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) is a term that means post-Sanger sequencing methods with high-throughput sequencing technologies. NGS parallelizes the sequencing process, producing thousands or millions of sequences at once. The latest NGS technologies use even single DNA molecule as a template and measures the DNA sequence directly via measuring electronic signals from the extension or degradation of DNA. NGS is making big impacts on biomedical research, molecular diagnosis and personalized medicine. The hospitals are rapidly adopting the use of NGS to help to patients understand treatment with sequencing data. As NGS equipments are getting smaller and affordable, many hospitals are in the process of setting up NGS platforms. In this review, the progress of NGS technology development and action mechanisms of representative NGS equipments of each generation were discussed. The key technological advances in the commercialized platforms were presented. As NGS platforms are a great concern in the healthcare area, the latest trend in the use of NGS and the prospect of NGS in the future in diagnosis and personalized medicine were also discussed.