• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.120-128
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• 2003

Alternative medicines such as herbal products are increasingly being used for preventive and therapeutic purposes. Ginseng is the best known and most popular herbal medicine used worldwide. In spite of some beneficial effects of ginseng on the nervous system, little scientific evidence shows at the cellular level. In the present study, I have examined the direct modulation of ginseng total saponins and individual ginsenosides on the activation of $Ca^{2+}$ channels and NMDA-gated channels in cultured rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and hippocampal neurons, respectively. In DRG neurons, application of ginseng total saponins suppressed high-voltage-activated $Ca^{2+}$ channel currents and ginsenoside Rg$_3$, among the 11 ginsenosides tested, produced the strongest inhibition on $Ca^{2+}$ channel currents. Occlusion experiments using selective $Ca^{2+}$ channel blockers revealed that ginsenoside Rg$_3$ could modulate L-, N-, and P/Q-type currents. In addition, ginsenoside Rg$_3$ also proved to be an active component of ginseng actions on NMDA receptors in cultured hippocampal neurons. Application of ginsenoside Rg$_3$ suppressed NMDA-induced [Ca$^{2+}$]$_{i}$ increase and -gated channels using fura-2-based digital imaging and patch-clamp techniques, respectively. These results suggest that the modulation of $Ca^{2+}$ channels and NMDA receptors by ginsenoside Rg$_3$ could be part of the pharmacological basis of ginseng actions in the peripheral and central nervous systems.ous systems.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.67-72
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• 2012

Purpose: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic multi-systemic disease that causes damage to the bone and connective tissues. This study was conducted in order to accurately measure the correlation between RA and periodontitis, and to obtain an unbiased estimate of the effect of RA on periodontal indices. Methods: In this historical cohort study, which was conducted from February to May 2011 in Hamadan city, Iran, 53 exposed people (with RA) were compared with 53 unexposed people (without RA) in terms of clinical periodontal indices (the outcomes of interest) including 1) plaque index (PI), 2) bleeding on probing (BOP), and 3) clinical attachment loss (CAL). Results: A sample of 106 volunteers were evaluated, 53 rheumatoid versus 53 non-rheumatoid subjects. There was a statistically significant correlation between RA and BOP (P<0.001) and between RA and CAL (P<0.001). However, there was no statistically significant correlation between RA and any of the periodontal indices. No correlation was seen between gender and any of the indices either. There was a strong positive correlation between age and all three periodontal indices (P<0.001). Conclusions: The present study indicated a potential effect of RA on periodontal indices. However, much more evidence based on a prospective cohort study is needed to support the cause and effect relationship between RA and periodontal indices.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2015

The sex of bivalves is classified into gonochorism and hermaphroditism, and hermaphroditism is further divided into simultaneous (synchronous or functional), and sequential (asynchronous). The sequential hermaphroditism signifies sex reversal in accordance with seasons. In general, in the case of gonochoristic bivalves, manifestation of sex as female and male, after having identified the morphological sex, is limited to a period of the life cycle in any given individual. In order to accurately identify sex, continuous monitoring of changes in the sex during life cycle is necessary by tagging the sex. In the bivalves, sex reversal and sequential hermaphroditism has been reported in the Ostreidae, Pectinidae, Veneridae and Arcidae etc.. Most of these studies have reached this conclusion based on evidence derived from sex ratio change in accordance with the age within same populations. Sex change in the sequential hermaphroditic bivalves normally occurs when the gonad is undifferentiated between spawning seasons. Two factors are involved in sex determination and sex change in bivalves, namely genetic and environmental. However, more detailed research is needed on the effect of the genetic and environmental factors involved in sex determination and sex change of bivalves.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.82-89
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• 2008

Ideal rotator cuff repair is to maintain high fixation strength and minimize gap formation for optimizing the environment of biologic healing of tendon to bone. Among the current repair techniques, the suture bridge technique is superior to single- or double-row repair in ultimate load to failure, gap formation, restoring anatomical footprint and achieving pressurized contact area. The suture bridge technique also minimizes gap formation and has rotational and torsional resistances allowing early rehabilitation. However, despite superior biomechanical characteristics of the suture bridge technique, there is no evidence that these mechanical advantages result in better clinical outcomes. Furthermore, there is no difference in failure rates between the double-row repair and suture bridge techniques. An appropriate repair technique should be determined based on tear size and pattern and tendon quality.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.553-559
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• 2018

Investigations into the development of new therapeutic agents for lung inflammatory disorders have led to the discovery of plant-based alternatives. The rhizomes of Anemarrhena asphodeloides have a long history of use against lung inflammatory disorders in traditional herbal medicine. However, the therapeutic potential of this plant material in animal models of lung inflammation has yet to be evaluated. In the present study, we prepared the alcoholic extract and derived the saponin-enriched fraction from the rhizomes of A. asphodeloides and isolated timosaponin A-III, a major constituent. Lung inflammation was induced by intranasal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mice, representing an animal model of acute lung injury (ALI). The alcoholic extract (50-200 mg/kg) inhibited the development of ALI. Especially, the oral administration of the saponin-enriched fraction (10-50 mg/kg) potently inhibited the lung inflammatory index. It reduced the total number of inflammatory cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Histological changes in alveolar wall thickness and the number of infiltrated cells of the lung tissue also indicated that the saponin-enriched fraction strongly inhibited lung inflammation. Most importantly, the oral administration of timosaponin A-III at 25-50 mg/kg significantly inhibited the inflammatory markers observed in LPS-induced ALI mice. All these findings, for the first time, provide evidence supporting the effectiveness of A. asphodeloides and its major constituent, timosaponin A-III, in alleviating lung inflammation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.267-272
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• 2011

ZAS3 is a large zinc finger transcription repressor that binds the ${\kappa}B$-motif via two signature domains of ZASN and ZASC. A loss-of-function study showed that lack of ZAS3 protein induced accelerated cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. Conversely, gain-of-function studies showed that ZAS3 repressed $NF{\kappa}B$-activated transcription by competing with $NF{\kappa}B$ for the ${\kappa}B$-motif. Based on these observations, we hypothesize that ZAS3 promotes apoptosis by interrupting anti-apoptotic activity of $NF{\kappa}B$. Here, we present evidence that upon $TNF{\alpha}$ stimulation, ZAS3 inhibits $NF{\kappa}B$-mediated cell survival and promotes caspase-mediated apoptosis. The inhibitory effect of ZAS3 on $NF{\kappa}B$ activity is mediated by neither direct association with $NF{\kappa}B$ nor disrupting nuclear localization of $NF{\kappa}B$. Instead, ZAS3 repressed the expression of two key anti-apoptotic genes of $NF{\kappa}B$, TRAF1 and TRAF2, thereby sensitizing cells to $TNF{\alpha}$-induced cell death. Taken together, our data suggest that ZAS3 is a tumor suppressor gene and therefore serves as a novel therapeutic target for developing anti-cancer drugs.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.83-102
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• 2018

The process model of emotion regulation suggests that cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression engage at different time points in the regulation process. Although multiple brain regions and networks have been identified for each strategy, no articles have explored changes in network characteristics or network connectivity over time. The present study examined (a) the whole-brain network and six other resting-state networks, (b) their modularity and global efficiency, which is an index of the efficiency of information exchange across the network, (c) the degree and betweenness centrality for 160 brain regions to identify the hub nodes with the most control over the entire network, and (d) the intra-network and inter-network functional connectivity (FC). Such investigations were performed using a traditional large-scale FC analysis and a relatively recent sliding window correlation analysis. The results showed that the right inferior orbitofrontal cortex was the hub region of the whole-brain network for both strategies. The present findings of temporally altering functional activity of the networks revealed that the default mode network (DMN) activated at the early stage of reappraisal, followed by the task-positive networks (cingulo-opercular network and fronto-parietal network), emotion-processing networks (the cerebellar network and DMN), and sensorimotor network (SMN) that activated at the early stage of suppression, followed by the greater recruitment of task-positive networks and their functional connection with the emotional response-related networks (SMN and occipital network). This is the first study that provides neuroimaging evidence supporting the process model of emotion regulation by revealing the temporally varying network efficiency and intra- and inter-network functional connections of reappraisal and suppression.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 2017

Reliable and valid diagnostic screening tools in the primary care setting enable accurate estimation of depression in individuals at risk or in need of treatment, and provide patients with an opportunity to receive optimal treatments. Although there have been extensive studies on screening tools for depression used in domestic mental health settings, there is little consideration and lack of a thorough review of the diagnostic validity of screening tools. In the current review, we selected 13 representative screening tools for depression which were evaluated in a total of 19 validation studies conducted in Korea. We summarized DSM-5 target domains, diagnostic indices, sensitivity, specificity, cut-off scores, and diagnostic validity information for each tool. Finally, the depression measurement expert group was constituted to evaluate the current status of screening tools for depression, and their recommendations for a new screening tool were summarized. This study was conducted as part of the Mental Health Technology Development project to develop the Korean screening tool for depression (K-DEP).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2361-2368
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• 2015

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in differentiating between benign and malignant enlarged lymph nodes using meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Pubmed, Embase, SCI and Cochrane databases were searched for studies (up to September 1, 2014) reporting the diagnostic performance of CEUS in discriminating between benign and malignant lymph nodes. Inclusion criteria were: prospective study; histopathology as the reference standard; and sufficient data to construct $2{\times}2$ contingency tables. Methodological quality was assessed using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2). Patient clinical characteristics, sensitivity and specificity were extracted. The summary receiver operating characteristic curve was used to examine the accuracy of CEUS. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the clinical utility in identification of benign and malignant lymph nodes. Sensitivity analysis was performed after omitting outliers identified in a bivariate boxplot and publication bias was assessed with Egger testing. Results: The pooled sensitivity, specificity and AUROC were 0.92 (95%CI, 0.85-0.96), 0.91 (95%CI, 0.82-0.95) and 0.97 (95%CI, 0.95-0.98), respectively. After omitting 3 outlier studies, heterogeneity decreased. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated no disproportionate influences of individual studies. Publication bias was not significant. Conclusions: CEUS is a promising diagnostic modality in differentiating between benign and malignant lymph nodes and can potentially reduce unnecessary fine-needle aspiration biopsies of benign nodes.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.267-272
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• 2002

Typical hypoplastic left heart syndrome(HLHS) is a distinct pathologic entity with aortic atresia, mitral atresia, very hypoplastic or absent left ventricle and thread like ascending aorta. Occasionally, the lesser degree of hypoplasia is found and is called hypoplastic left heart complex(HLHC) by some authors. This HLHC is often associated with critical aortic stenosis. Fetal echocardiography has enabled us to observe human fetal heart in-utero and to diagnose congenital heart disease prenatally over the last 20 years. The diagnosis of HLHS in fetal echocardiography is based on 2-dimensional echocardio -graphic evidence of a diminutive ascending aorta, aortic atresia, mitral atresia or severe stenosis and a hypoplastic left ventricle. Abnormal flow direction through atrial septum or through isthmus greatly aids the diagnosis. This report shows a fetal case who showed hypoplastic left side chambers and retrograde isthmic flow and was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. After birth, although the baby had tachy-dyspnea for the first 3 weeks, she finally recovered without any intervention and showed catch up growth of left side chambers. This case illustrates the extreme difficulty of assessing left ventricle in a fetus.