• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.196-209
• /
• 2019

As a traditional method to apply fingerprint powder, brush method ("dusting") can create a risk to the health of crime scene investigators due to the inhalation toxicity of harmful and fine powders. Therefore, as a new method of applying powders, we tried to evaluate the potential of a chamber method for the development of latent fingerprint using fans in a closed chamber with a fixed capacity that can prevent the powders from being blown outside and exposed to the users, by comparing with the development results of the conventional brush method. Fingerprints on glass and plastic (PET) were extracted with black powder and green fluorescent powder, and the sharpness and minutiae of the developed fingerprints were compared for each method. The results of the black powder showed similar results, but the effect of the chamber method was slightly decreased when the green fluorescent powder was used. In order to improve the development with the green fluorescent powder, the mixture (50 : 50) of the fluorescent powder with the silica gel was tested and the results were similar to those of the brush method. It is expected that the chamber method has a high potential as a new powder application method considering the health of the crime scene investigator after fine tuning of development conditions with additional studies.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.54 no.7
• /
• pp.380-385
• /
• 2021

Proper targeting of the βPAK-interacting exchange factor (βPIX)/G protein-coupled receptor kinase-interacting target protein (GIT) complex into distinct cellular compartments is essential for its diverse functions including neurite extension and synaptogenesis. However, the mechanism for translocation of this complex is still unknown. In the present study, we reported that the conventional kinesin, called kinesin-1, can transport the βPIX/GIT complex. Additionally, βPIX bind to KIF5A, a neuronal isoform of kinesin-1 heavy chain, but not KIF1 and KIF3. Mapping analysis revealed that the tail of KIF5s and LZ domain of βPIX were the respective binding domains. Silencing KIF5A or the expression of a variety of mutant forms of KIF5A inhibited βPIX targeting the neurite tips in PC12 cells. Furthermore, truncated mutants of βPIX without LZ domain did not interact with KIF5A, and were unable to target the neurite tips in PC12 cells. These results defined kinesin-1 as a motor protein of βPIX, and may provide new insights into βPIX/GIT complex-dependent neuronal pathophysiology.

• Journal of Lipid and Atherosclerosis
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.122-154
• /
• 2018

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is typically associated with single gene mutation that is inherited by autosomal dominant manner. Due to high cardiovascular risk, aggressive discovery, diagnosis, and treatment of FH are critical. Although FH is being increasingly spotlighted, we do not have sufficient data on Korean patients with FH. Here, we present the content of symposium of the Education Committee, Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis held in May 2018: 1) epidemiology, clinical diagnosis, Korean FH data, and regulation in Korea; 2) genes associated with FH, sequencing process in suspicious proband, cascade screening, and difficulty in genetic diagnosis in FH; 3) the importance of lipid-lowering therapy in FH, conventional and novel therapeutics for FH; 4) diagnosis of FH in children and adolescence, screening, and treatment of FH in children and adolescence; 5) history of FH studies in Korea, the structure and current status of FH registry of Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis; and 6) difficulty in diagnosis of heterozygous and homozygous FH, drug intolerance and achievement of treatment target. Discussion between speakers and panels were also added. We hope that this article is helpful for understanding FH and future studies performed in Korea.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.89-116
• /
• 2019

Objective: This study aimed to ascertain what should be considered in the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer," by analyzing existing guidelines and clinical trials. Methods: Committee for the development of a guideline, consisting of 6 Korean medicine doctors, reviewed guidelines and clinical trials on using herbal medicine for treating liver cancer. The trials were analyzed in terms of inclusion and exclusion of participants, intervention, comparators, outcomes, and trial design. We then compared the results of our analysis with the guidelines to identify issues we must to consider when following the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer." Several guidelines for antitumor agents and clinical trials on herbal medicine were obtained from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety homepage, etc. The search terms were as follows: "liver neoplasms"; "herbal medicine"; "medicine, Korean traditional"; and "medicine, Chinese Traditional.". Results: Ten articles were obtained from pubmed and Embase. There was no guideline for clinical trials on using herbal medicine for treating liver cancer. All the participants in the reviewed articles had primary liver cancer, and the type of intervention varied (e.g., decoction, patches, and capsules. The comparators included placebos and conventional treatments such as chemotherapy. The outcome assessment methods were tumor response, quality of life, survival, and liver function tests. Adverse events occuring during the trial were also evaluated. Conclusion: Findings were derived by reviewing existing guidelines and comparing them with clinical trials on liver cancer and herbal medicinal products. These results will be utilized in the development of the "Guideline for Clinical Trials with Herbal Medicinal Products for Liver Cancer."

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.59-67
• /
• 2021

Objectives: We aimed to compare the external herbal dispensary (EHD) evaluation criteria for pharmacopuncture and the Korea Good Manufacturing Practice (KGMP) sterile medicine standards to contribute to the establishment of quality control criteria for pharmacopuncture. Methods: We obtained the KGMP standards from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the pharmacopuncture certification criteria from the Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea. The EHD evaluation items were classified into three categories: facilities, quality control, and validation. The evaluation items were compared with the KGMP sterile medicine criteria to determine their conformance with each other, followed by a discussion among the committee of six experts and their consensus to suggest the items to complement the EHD evaluation criteria. Results: Among the KGMP sterile medicine criteria, 44 were related to the management of the facilities, and 32 pharmacopuncture evaluation items corresponded to these KGMP items (66.7%). Fifty-eight KGMP criteria were related to quality management, and 42 pharmacopuncture evaluation items corresponded to these KGMP items (72.4%). Twentyfive KGMP sterile medicine criteria were related to validation, and 11 pharmacopuncture evaluation items corresponded to these KGMP items (44.0%). Sixteen items under the pharmacopuncture EHD criteria corresponded to the KGMP sterile medicine criteria based on the consent of the experts. Among these, 4 were related to facility management, 6 were related to quality control, and 6 were related to validation. Conclusion: For the safety and quality control of pharmacopuncture, there is a need to select the criteria for the mandatory items among the proposed pharmacopuncture-EHD criteria laws and systems to ensure that the pharmacopuncture materials are produced under the pharmacopuncture-EHD in compliance with the relevant requirements. More studies are needed to secure the safety level of pharmacopuncture materials corresponding to that of conventional medicine.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.43 no.6
• /
• pp.382-389
• /
• 2022

In this study, the accuracy of the orthognathic surgical guides with single-stage split path was upgraded to realize orthognathic surgical guides with two-stage split path and simulated surgery was performed to verify its accuracy. As a result, the average error distance between the simulation model and the scan model was + 0.289 / - 0.468 mm (standard deviation 0.128), which was confirmed to be within ± 0.5 mm, which is a clinically acceptable level. Also, there was no significant difference compared with the average value of + 0.313 / - 0.456 mm (average standard deviation 0.106) of the conventional single-stage split path type device. It is judged that the use of this device can contribute to the reduction of surgical time and increase in accuracy since a separate finishing operation for bone preparation is unnecessary.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.267-274
• /
• 2022

Molecular imaging is used to improve the disease diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring of treatment in living subjects. Numerous molecular targets have been developed for various cellular and molecular processes in genetic, metabolic, proteomic, and cellular biologic level. Molecular imaging modalities such as Optical Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), and Computed Tomography (CT) can be used to visualize anatomic, genetic, biochemical, and physiologic changes in vivo. For in vivo cell imaging, certain cells such as cancer cells, immune cells, stem cells could be labeled by direct and indirect labeling methods to monitor cell migration, cell activity, and cell effects in cell-based therapy. In case of cancer, it could be used to investigate biological processes such as cancer metastasis and to analyze the drug treatment process. In addition, transplanted stem cells and immune cells in cell-based therapy could be visualized and tracked to confirm the fate, activity, and function of cells. In conventional molecular imaging, cells can be monitored in vivo in bulk non-invasively with optical imaging, MRI, PET, and SPECT imaging. However, single cell imaging in vivo has been a great challenge due to an extremely high sensitive detection of single cell. Recently, there has been great attention for in vivo single cell imaging due to the development of single cell study. In vivo single imaging could analyze the survival or death, movement direction, and characteristics of a single cell in live subjects. In this article, we reviewed basic principle of in vivo molecular imaging and introduced recent studies for in vivo single cell imaging based on the concept of in vivo molecular imaging.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.38-43
• /
• 2023

Objectives: Psychiatric symptoms in epilepsy are very common, and the most common symptoms are depression, insomnia, and anxiety. These symptoms not only lower the quality of life of epilepsy patients, but also elevate the risk of epileptic seizures. There are no specific criteria for the available antiepileptic drugs to ameliorate these symptoms in patients with epilepsy, and there is a lack of evidence to support the efficacy and safety of existing drugs. The Shugan Jieyu capsule (SJC) is a traditional herbal medicine composed of Acanthopanax senticosus and Hypericum perforatum and is reported to be effective in relieving psychiatric symptoms. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of SJC as a treatment for psychiatric symptoms in epilepsy patients. Methods: Electronic databases will be investigated for publications in English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. The participants of the study are epilepsy patients with psychiatric symptoms diagnosed using any validated criteria. All types of controls will be compared-placebo, conventional treatments, and no treatment-to groups treated with SJC or modified SJC. We will measure the degree of improvement in psychiatric symptoms and check epileptic symptoms, such as the frequency of seizures. The study selection and data extraction will be performed by two independent reviewers, who will also assess methodological quality using the risk-of-bias tool by Cochrane. We will use Review Manager software (RevMan) to carry out all statistical analyses. Results: This systematic review and meta-analysis will be performed in accordance with the PRISMA-P statement. Conclusion: This systematic review is the first study to assess the efficacy and safety of SJC for the treatment of psychiatric symptoms in epilepsy. We expect that this study will provide clinically applicable evidence for patients with epilepsy when selecting drug treatments.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.3
• /
• pp.207-221
• /
• 2023

The increasing demand for clean energy requires considerable effort to find alternative energy sources, such as briquettes. This research aims to develop a charcoal briquette with added pine resin (API) that has excellent combustion speed and distinctive aroma. Briquettes are composed of charcoal, pine resin (concentration: 0%-30%), and starch (up to 7%). They are produced in several stages, including coconut shell pyrolysis in conventional combustion, to obtain charcoal for the briquette precursor. Briquette compaction is conducted by mixing and densifying the charcoal, pine resin, and starch using a hydraulic press for 3 min. The hydraulic press has a total surface area and diameter of 57.7 cm² and 3.5 cm, respectively. The briquettes are dried at different temperatures, reaching 70℃ for 24 h. The study results show that the briquettes have a thickness and diameter of up to 2 and 3.5 cm, respectively; moisture of 2.18%-2.62%; ash of 11.61%-13.98%; volatile matter of 27.15%-51.74%; and fixed carbon content of 40.24%-59.46%. The compressive strength of the briquettes is 186-540 kg/cm². Their calorific value is 5,338-6,120 kcal/kg, combusting at a high speed of 0.15-0.40 s. The methoxy naphthalene, phenol, benzopyrrole, and lauryl alcohol; ocimene, valencene, and cembrene are found in the API. The API briquette has several chemical compounds, such as musk ambrette, ocimene, sabinene, limonene, 1-(p-cumenyl) adamantane, butane, and propanal, which improve aroma, drug application, and fuel production. Accordingly, API briquettes have considerable potential as an alternative energy source and a health improvement product.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.6-14
• /
• 2023

Fabry disease (FD), a rare X-linked lysosomal storage disorder, is caused by mutations in the α-galactosidase A gene gene encoding α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A). The functional deficiency of α-Gal A results in progressive accumulation of neutral glycosphingolipids, causing multi-organ damages including cardiac, renal, cerebrovascular systems. The current treatment is comprised of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), oral pharmacological chaperone therapy and adjunctive supportive therapy. ERT has been introduced 20 years ago, changing the outcome of FD patients with proven effectiveness. However, FD patients have many unmet needs. ERT needs a life-long intravenous therapy, inefficient bio-distribution, and generation of anti-drug antibodies. Migalastat, a pharmacological chaperone, augmenting α-Gal A enzyme activity only in patients with mutations amenable to the therapy, is now available for clinical practice. Furthermore, these therapies should be initiated before the organ damage becomes irreversible. Development of novel drugs aim at improving the clinical effectiveness and convenience of therapy. Clinical trial of next generation ERT is underway. Polyethylene glycolylated enzyme has a longer half-life and potentially reduced antigenicity, compared with standard preparations with longer dosing interval. Moss-derived enzyme has a higher affinity for mannose receptors, and seems to have more efficient access to podocytes of kidney which is relatively resistant to reach by conventional ERT. Substrate reduction therapy is currently under clinical trial. Gene therapy has now been started in several clinical trials using in vivo and ex vivo technologies. Early results are emerging. Other strategic approaches at preclinical research level are stem cell-based therapy with genome editing and systemic mRNA therapy.