• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the inhibitory effects of Hwangheuk-san (HHS), a Korean multi-herb formula comprising four medicinal herbs, on cell migration and invasion, two critical cellular processes that are often deregulated during metastasis, using the human bladder cancer 5637 cell line.Methods: Cell viability, motility, and invasion were assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2 thiazolyl)-2,5-diphnyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT), wound healing migration, and Transwell assays, respectively. Gene expression was detected by Western blot analysis. In addition, the activities of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the values for transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) were analyzed using a Gelatinase Activity Assay Kit and an Epithelial Tissue Voltohmmeter, respectively.Results: Our data indicated that within the concentration range that was not cytotoxic, HHS effectively inhibited the cell motility and invasiveness of 5637 cells. HHS markedly decreased the expression and activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9, which was associated with unregulation of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 and TIMP-2. Further investigation revealed that phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and AKT was decreased in HHS-treated 5637 cells, and a PI3K/AKT inhibitor synergistically reduced the inhibition of migration and invasion and also inactivated MMP-2 and MMP-9. Moreover, HHS increased the tightening of tight junctions (TJs), which was demonstrated by an increase in the TER, and reduced the expression the levels of claudin family members (claudin-3 and -4), which are major components involved in the tightening of TJs.Conclusions: The present findings demonstrated that HHS attenuated the migration and invasion of bladder cancer 5637 cells by modulating the activity of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and also through TJ tightening.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.347-354
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• 2014

Larrea nitida is a plant that belongs to the Zygophyllaceae family and is widely used in South America to treat inflammatory diseases, tumors and menstrual pain. However, its pharmacological activity remains unclear. In this study we evaluated the property of selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) of Larrea nitida extracts (LNE) as a phytoestrogen that can mimic, modulate or disrupt the actions of endogenous estrogens, depending on the tissue and relative amount of other SERMs. To investigate the property of SERM of LNE, we performed MCF-7 cell proliferation assays, estrogen response element (ERE)-luciferase reporter gene assay, human estrogen receptor (hER) binding assays and in vivo uterotrophic assay. To gain insight into the active principles, we performed a bioassay-guided analysis of LNE employing solvents of various polarities and using classical column chromatography, which yielded 16 fractions (LNs). LNE showed high binding affinities for $hER{\alpha}$ and $hER{\beta}$ with $IC_{50}$ values of $1.20{\times}10^{-7}$ g/ml and $1.00{\times}10^{-7}$ g/ml, respectively. LNE induced $17{\beta}$-estradiol (E2)-induced MCF-7 cell proliferation, however, it reduced the proliferation in the presence of E2. Furthermore, LNE had an atrophic effect in the uterus of immature rats through reducing the expression level of progesterone receptor (PR) proteins. LN08 and LN10 had more potent affinities for binding on $hER{\alpha}$ and ${\beta}$ than other fractions. Our results indicate that LNE had higher binding affinities for $hER{\beta}$ than $hER{\alpha}$, and showed SERM properties in MCF-7 breast cancer cells and the rat uterus. LNE may be useful for the treatment of estrogen-related conditions, such as female cancers and menopause.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.1 s.102
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• pp.29-37
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• 2003

Benthic macro-invertebrates were seasonally collected in the Onchen Stream in Pusan, from July 2001 to March 2002. Generally 4 phylum 5 class 10 order 19 family 23 species were observed in the study sites. Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and various species appeared in headwater stream while Oligochaeta and Chironomidae were dominated in downstream sites. Community abundance patterns, especially the dominant taxa, Oligochaeta and Chironomidae, appeared to be different depending upon the sampling months. Oligochaeta was usually observed in July, December and March while Chironomidae was appeared in September. The biological indices, TBI(Trent Biotic Index), BS (Biotic Score), BMWP (Biological Monitoring Working Party)were calculated with the appeared communities of the sampling sites through the survey months. TBI showed 1 to 8, BMWP was 1 to 93 and CBI appeared 9 to 387 in the different sites. The biological indices decreased from headstream to downstream sites, We implemented the unsupervised Kohonen network for patterning of community abundance of the sampling sites. The patterning map by the Kohonen network was well represented community abundance of the sampling sites. Also, we conducted RTRN (Real Time Recurrent Neural Network) for predicting of the biological indices in the different sites. The results appeared that the predicting values by RTRN were well matched field data (correlation coefficient of TBI, BMWP and CBI were 0.957, 0.979 and 0.967, respectively).

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 1986

One of the most medically important snail species of Korea is Semisulcospira spp., a member of the freshwater prosobranch family pleuroceridae. The parasites that these snails transmit to humans are mainly Paragonimus westermani and Metagonimus yokogawoi. On the other hand, Semisulcospira snails are edible as a foodstuff in Korea. The present study was first aimed to detect out residual pesticides in the snails collected at the endemic and non-endemic areas of paragonimiasis in Korea and to make relationship to the detectability of larval trematodes shed from the snails. In addition, water specimens from the habitats where the snails were collected were sampled and analysed to elucidate environmental conditions of the habitats. This malaco-ecological survey was done at 7 endemic and 3 non-endemic areas of paragonimiasis for about more than 2 years, May, 1984 through October, 1986. All the water smaples both from the endemic and non-endemic areas of paragonimiasis showed normal ranges of the criteria of upper freshwater streams, with lower B.O.D. (0.4~2.0 ppm) and higher D.O. values (9.5~11.0 ppm) than those in the large river systems Infection rate of digenetic trematodes in total snails collected was 6.7%, but no Paragonimus cercaria was detected out at all even in the endemic areas of paragonimiasis. The ecological factors affecting Paragonimus larvae in the snails were also discussed. A total of 9 chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticieds was targeted to detect out from the tissues of snails. Out of 9 pesticides, aldrin, beta-BHC, p, p-DDT, dieldrin, DDE, lindane, heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide were eluted from the snails. The highest levels of the pesticides were mostly detected out in the snails collected from the Donghae-Chun area of Haman and the Kangwha area of Kyongki-Do, where the lowest infection rates of trematode cercariae (0~0.5%) were revealed. The possibilities that the residual pesticides in the freshwater animals including Semisulcospira snails might be transferable to humans were also discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.36-36
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• 2017

Out of twenty common protein amino acids, there are many kinds of non protein amino acids (NPAAs) that exist as secondary metabolites and exert ecological functions in plants. Mimosine (Mim), one of those NPAAs derived from L. leucocephala acts as an iron chelator and reversely block mammalian cell cycle at G1/S phases. Cysteine (Cys) is decisive for protein and glutathione that acts as an indispensable sulfur grantor for methionine and many other sulfur-containing secondary products. Cys biosynthesis includes consecutive two steps using two enzymes-serine acetyl transferase (SAT) and O-acetylserine (thiol)lyase (OASTL) and appeared in plant cytosol, chloroplast, and mitochondria. In the first step, the acetylation of the ${\beta}$-hydroxyl of L-serine by acetyl-CoA in the existence of SAT and finally, OASTL triggers ${\alpha}$, ${\beta}$-elimination of acetate from OAS and bind $H_2S$ to catalyze the synthesis of Cys. Mimosine synthase, one of the isozymes of the OASTLs, is able to synthesize Mim with 3-hydroxy-4-pyridone (3H4P) instead of $H_2S$ for Cys in the last step. Thus, the aim of this study was to clone and characterize the cytosolic (Cy) OASTL gene from L. leucocephala, express the recombinant OASTL in Escherichia coli, purify it, do enzyme kinetic analysis, perform docking dynamics simulation analysis between the receptor and the ligands and compare its performance between Cys and Mim synthesis. Cy-OASTL was obtained through both directional degenerate primers corresponding to conserved amino acid region among plant Cys synthase family and the purified protein was 34.3KDa. After cleaving the GST-tag, Cy-OASTL was observed to form mimosine with 3H4P and OAS. The optimum Cys and Mim reaction pH and temperature were 7.5 and $40^{\circ}C$, and 8.0 and $35^{\circ}C$ respectively. Michaelis constant (Km) values of OAS from Cys were higher than the OAS from Mim. Inter fragment interaction energy (IFIE) of substrate OAS-Cy-OASTL complex model showed that Lys, Thr81, Thr77 and Gln150 demonstrated higher attraction force for Cys but 3H4P-mimosine synthase-OAS intermediate complex showed that Gly230, Tyr227, Ala231, Gly228 and Gly232 might provide higher attraction energy for the Mim. It may be concluded that Cy-OASTL demonstrates a dual role in biosynthesis both Cys and Mim and extending the knowledge on the biochemical regulatory mechanism of mimosine and cysteine.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.14-19
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• 1983

Comparison and evaluation of various wellknown methods to determine the saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil were attempted in order to choose a convenient and reliable method applicable, at least, to Bonryang sandy loam (coarse loamy over sandy, mixed, mesic family of Typic Udifluvents). Three experimental methods, inversed auger hole, infiltrometer, and core sample method, were used for this purpose. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The inversed auger hole method was highly correlated with the infiltrometer method while the core sample method was poorly correlated with other two methods. 2. The inversed auger hole method was proved to be convenient and reliable method to measure the hydraulic conductivity of upland coarse textured soils in situ. 3. The hydraulic conductivity determined by the infiltrometer method converged to a constant value after 80 to 100 minutes from starting of measurement. 4. The conductivity determined by the inversed auger hole method approached to a constant value at 5 or 6th run of measurement. 5. The hydraulic conductivity determined by the core sample method was greatly under estimated in comparison with the values obtained by other two methods.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2013

The purpose of the study was investigated on that whether there was any statistical difference or not in terms of the career decision making according to the growth environment of High school students. The researcher surveyed 600 questionnaires for high school students and was using 539 questionnaires in the final analysis. They were analyzed by cluster analyses according to the growth environment scale and it classified into two cluster groups. The cluster group A and B had a significant difference on scores of the growth environment scale. The group A had more interested in activities such as political, social, intellectual, and cultural ones and participated at social and leisure activities. Moreover, the group was emphasis on moral and religious values. The group B got the higher score than group A about the score of the rational type of the career decision making: the group A got the higher score than the group B to the score of the dependent type. On the matter of the job information collection sub-scale, the group A got the higher score than the group B: the group A scored higher points than group B about the goal establishment and the self-estimate sub-scales. Therefore, in order to do the career-guidance of youths, each family had to provide positive growth environment which required various stimuli and affluent in experience settings for them to mature.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.61-77
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• 2013

Developing textbook evaluation criterion is as important as textbook development in education. Home economics subject has been involved in textbook evaluation since 1995, at which the first home economics textbook was under the national authorization system in South Korea. There has been little research on home economics textbook evaluation criterion even though there were more studies using textbook analysis. The purposes of this study were to explore the reason why subject perspectives were reflected on the textbook evaluation criterion, the relationships between the perspectives presented by national curriculum and technology home economics textbook evaluation criterion, and the future direction for developing textbook evaluation criterion. So this study was related to analyze practical arts(technology home economics) textbook evaluation criterion and the meaning of subject perspectives in textbook evaluation criterion, to drive perspectives consistently presented by the 2007 revised and 2011 revised national curriculum, to analyze the relationships between the perspectives in national curriculum and textbook evaluation criterion, and to provide the future direction for textbook evaluation criterion development. Textbook evaluation criterion is very important because it provides subject perspectives for developing textbook, delivers the core concepts and unique values of our subject, and provides the direction for teacher education. According to the analysis of both national curriculum, the perspectives such as management competency, life competency, practical experience, integrative competency for understanding individual and family, career and life planning, and life problem-solving were presented in this study. Implication for future research would be needed to develop the factors of textbook evaluation criterion based on the perspective presented by national curriculum.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.129-156
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between depression and ego identity of middle-aged women and to identify the variables that show differences in the depression and ego identity of middle-aged women. The subjects in the study were 321 mothers of high school students whose age were 40-59 years old. The instruments for this study were Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) developed Beck(1978) and translated by Lee(1981) and Ego identity Scale developed Suh(1975) and modified by Nam(1975). The reliability values of BDI range from 0.83 to 0.87 and Ego identity range from 0.81 to 0.85 using Cronbach alpha. The data were analysed by using the SAS program and included Frequency, percentage Pearson Correlation MANOVA, t-test, ANOVA. The conclusion obtained from this study were as follows ; 1) There was a negative correlation(r=-0.21, p=0.0002) between depression and ego identity of middle-aged women. Thus the lower depression the higher ego identity for middle-aged women. 2) According to the analysis of interacting effects of depression and ego identity, there were significant differences in the household income(F=0.38, p=0.0035), level of education (F=6.50, p=0.0001), satisfaction of marriage(F=10.45, p=0.0001), family pattern (F=6.18, p=0.0001), menopausal status(F=7.23, p=0.0001), present disease(F=4.85, p=0.0110) and health status(F=9.00, p=0.0001). 3) There were significant differences on the level of education(F=12.98, p=0.0001) household income(F=5.78, p=0.0007), support of spouse(F=8.58, p=0.0002), satisfaction of marriage(F=20.08, p=0.0001), menopausal status(F=11.32, p=0.0001), present disease(t=2.76, p=0.0062) and health status(F=17.23, p=0.0001) of the depression of middle-aged women. 4) There were significant differences on the patterns of household(t=-2.64, p=0.0086), support spouse(F=3.58, p=0.0291), satisfaction of marriage(F=3.90, p=0.0212), menopausal status(F=4.59, p=0.0108) and disease(t=2.11, p=0.0359) of the ego identity of middle-aged women. On the basis of the above findings the following recommendations are made ; 1) According to results of this study, middle-aged women's depression is correlated with ego identity. Thus when the nurse plans the preventive strategy of middle-aged women's depression, the nurse must be considered with level of ego identity. 2) To study for middle-aged women in depth, further research is need to study regard to middle-aged men and their children.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.2021-2030
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• 2020

Objective: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has been extensively used in the field of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) research to elucidate their characteristics and clinical potential by normalization of target genes against reference genes (RGs), which are believed to be stably expressed irrespective of various experimental conditions. However, the expression of RGs is also variable depending on the experimental conditions, which may lead to false or contradictory conclusions upon normalization. Due to the current lack of information for a clear list of stable RGs in bovine MSCs, we conducted this study to identify suitable RGs in bovine MSCs. Methods: The cycle threshold values of ten traditionally used RGs (18S ribosomal RNA [18S], beta-2-microglobulin [B2M], H2A histone family, member Z [H2A], peptidylprolyl isomerase A [PPIA], ribosomal protein 4 [RPL4], succinate dehydrogenase complex, subunit A [SDHA], beta actin [ACTB], glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase [GAPDH], TATA box binding protein [TBP], and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltrasnfrase1 [HPRT1]) in bovine bone marrow-derived MSCs (bBMMSCs) were validated for their stabilities using three types of RG evaluation algorithms (geNorm, Normfinder, and Bestkeeper). The effect of validated RGs was then verified by normalization of lineage-specific genes (fatty acid binding protein 4 [FABP4] and osteonectin [ON]) expressions during differentiations of bBMMSCs or POU class 5 homeobox 1 (OCT4) expression between bBMMSCs and dermal skins. Results: Based on the results obtained for the three most stable RGs from geNorm (TBP, RPL4, and H2A), Normfinder (TBP, RPL4, and SDHA), and Bestkeeper (TBP, RPL4, and SDHA), it was comprehensively determined that TBP and RPL4 were the most stable RGs in bBMMSCs. However, traditional RGs were suggested to be the least stable (18S) or moderately stable (GAPDH and ACTB) in bBMMSCs. Normalization of FABP4 or ON against TBP, RPL4, and 18S presented significant differences during differentiation of bBMMSCs. However, although significantly low expression of OCT4 was detected in dermal skins compared to that in bBMMSCs when TBP and RPL4 were used in normalization, normalization against 18S exhibited no significance. Conclusion: This study proposes that TBP and RPL4 were suitable as stable RGs for qPCR study in bovine MSCs.