• The Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Ultrasound Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.85-89
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• 2009

Purpose: To analyze the clinical outcome after ultrasound guided multiple dry needlings and local steroid injection for acute calcific tendinitis of shoulder. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with acute episode of pain by calcific tendinitis of shoulder with average age 58.2 (50~70 years) and follow-up of 18 months in average (range, 12~24) were included in study. There were 18 patients with right and 2 with left sided involvement. All patients had calcific deposits in the supraspinatus tendon. All patients underwent standardized nonoperative treatment protocol, consisting of 5~12 MHz high resolution ultrasound guided multiple dry needlings with 18 guage needle, followed by 2% lidocaine 1cc and 40 mg/ml depomedrol 1cc injection at site of calcific tendinitis. The outcome was assessed by UCLA shoulder score, range of motion and VAS score. A statistical analysis with ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test with the significance level at 5% was performed using SAS 9.1 software (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Results: All patients got continuous relief of pain right after the procedures until final follow-up. Before the procedures, the UCLA scores were fair in 15 patients and poor in 5. After the procedures, the UCLA scores were excellent in 16 patients and good in 4. All cases revealed no limitation of shoulder function. The average VAS score decreased from 8.9 before the procedures to 0.5 at final follow-up (p<0.0001). No complication was encountered. Conclusion: An ultrasound guided local steroid injections following multiple dry needlings would be one of the useful treatment modality for the acute calcific tendinitis of shoulder.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.468-477
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• 2009

Purpose: Hydrodynamic-based procedure is a simple and effective gene delivery method to lead a high gene expression in liver tissue. Non-invasive imaging reporter gene system has been used widely with herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-tk) and its various substrates. In the present study, we investigated to image the expression of HSV1-tk gene with 5-(2-iodovinyD-2'-deoxyuridine (IVDU) in mouse liver by the hydrodynamicbased procedure. Materials and Methods: HSV1-tk or enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) encoded plasmid DNA was transferred into the mouse liver by hydrodynaminc injection. At 24 h post-injection, RT-PCR, biodistribution, fluorescence imaging, nuclear imaging and digital wholebody autoradiography (DWBA) were performed to confirm transferred gene expression. Results: In RT-PCR assay using mRNA from the mouse liver, specific bands of HSV1-tk and EGFP gene were observed in HSV1-tk and EGFP expressing plasmid injected mouse, respectively. Higher uptake of radiolabeled IVDU was exhibited in liver of HSV1-tk gene transferred mouse by biodistribution study. In fluorescence imaging, the liver showed specific fluorescence signal in EGFP gene transferred mouse. Gamma-camera image and DWBA results showed that radiolabeled IVDU was accumulated in the liver of HSV1-tk gene transferred mouse. Conclusion: In this study, hydrodynamic-based procedure was effective in liver-specific gene delivery and it could be quantified with molecular imaging methods. Therefore, co-expression of HSV1-tk reporter gene and target gene by hydrodynamic-based procedure is expected to be a useful method for the evaluation of the target gene expression level with radiolabeled IVDU.

• The Journal of Dong Guk Oriental Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 1998

Studies were conducted on anti-dibetic effect of the water extract from leaves of Eriobotryae folium, which had been used in Korea as a remedy for dibetes. The extract was found to inhibit the increase in the plasma level of sugar bu the not the decrease in the plasma level of insulin in alloxan-induced dibetic rats. Also, we investigated the in vivo effect of an aqueous extract (referred to as EF) from Eriobotryae folium on glucokinase and hexokinase activities of diabetes mellitus induced by interleukin-$1{\beta}$ ($IL-1{\beta}$). After 1 week of $IL-1{\beta}$ injection, the levels of serum glucose concentration and insulin secretion were dramatically increased. However, the insulin secretion was decreased with administration of EF. The level of glucose concentration was decreased by EF administration. Furthermore, it was observed that EF was effective in recovering the levels of insulin secretion. Enzyme activities of the glucokinase and hexokinase, which are key enzymes of glucose phosphorylastion, were decreased by $IL-1{\beta}$. EF administration to the mice allowed proportional increasing by stimulation of induction of enzyme activities as high as normal group. These results suggested that EF is highly effective in treatment of diabetes mellitus induce by $IL-1{\beta}$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.774-781
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• 2012

This study investigated dose-response effects of chlorogenic acid (CA) on glucose metabolism and the antioxidant system in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice with a high-fat diet (HFD). Male ICR mice were fed with a HFD (37% calories from fat) for 4 weeks prior to intraperitoneal injection with STZ (100 mg/kg body weight). Diabetic mice were supplemented with two doses of CA (0.02% and 0.05%, wt/wt) for 6 weeks. Both doses of CA significantly improved fasting blood glucose level, glucose tolerance and insulin tolerance without any changes in plasma insulin and C-peptide levels. Plasma leptin concentration was significantly higher in the CA-supplemented groups than in the diabetic control group. Both doses of CA significantly increased hepatic glucokinase activity and decreased glucose-6-phosphatase activity compared to the diabetic control group. The ratio of glucokinase/glucose-6-phosphatase was dose-independently higher in CA-supplemented mice than in diabetic control mice. CA supplementation dose-independently elevated superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, whereas it lowered lipid peroxide levels compared to the diabetic control mice in the liver and erythrocyte. These results suggest that low-dose CA may be used as a hypoglycemic agent in a high-fat diet and STZ-induced diabetic mice.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

Treatment of Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) from solid cancers has not advanced noticeably since the introduction of intra-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) chemotherapy in the 1970's. The marginal survival benefit and difficulty of intrathecal chemotherapy injection has hindered its wide spread use. Even after the introduction of intraventricular chemotherapy with Ommaya reservoir, frequent development of CSF flow disturbance, manifested as increased intracranial pressure (ICP), made injected drug to be distributed unevenly and thus, the therapy became ineffective. Systemic chemotherapy for LMC has been limited as effective CSF concentration can hardly be achieved except high dose methotrexate (MTX) intravenous administration. However, the introduction of small molecular weight target inhibitors for primary cancer treatment has changed the old concept of 'blood-brain barrier' as the ultimate barrier to systemically administered drugs. Conventional oral administration achieves an effective concentration at the nanomolar level. Furthermore, many studies report that a combined treatment of target inhibitor and intra-CSF chemotherapy significantly prolongs patient survival. Ventriculolumbar perfusion (VLP) chemotherapy has sought to increase drug delivery to the subarachnoid CSF space even in patients with disturbed CSF flow. Recently authors performed phase 1 and 2 clinical trial of VLP chemotherapy with MTX, and 3/4th of patients with increased ICP got controlled ICP and the survival was prolonged. Further trials are required with newly available drugs for CSF chemotherapy. Additionally, new LMC biologic/pharmacodynamic markers for early diagnosis and monitoring of the treatment response are to be identified with the help of advanced molecular biology techniques.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.295-311
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• 1994

A comprehensive in-situ tests are performed to define the hydrogeologic and hydrodispersive characteristics such as hydraulic conductivities, longitudinal dispersivity, and average linear velocities as well as conducting flow-net analysis at the study area. The results show that the study area is very heterogeneous so that hydraulic conductivities range from $6.45{\times}10^{-7}$ to $1.15{\times}10^{-5}m/s$ with average linear velocities of 0.34~0.62m/day. Whole groundwater in upper-most aquifer is discharging into the sea with specific discharge rate of $7.2{\times}10^{-3}$ to $1.3{\times}10^{-2}m/day$. The longitudinal dispersivity of the aquifer is estimated about 4.8m through In-situ injection phase test. The area is highly vulnerable to potential contaminant sources due to it's high value of DRASTIC index ranging from 139 to 155 and also under water table condition with very shallow groundwater level. To delineate contaminant plumes of toxic NaOH and carcinogenic benzene when these substances are assumed to be leaked through existing TSDF at the study area by unexpected accidents or spill, Aquifer Simulation Model (ASM) including Flow and Transport Model is used. Te simulated results reveal that the size of NaOH plume after 5 years continuous leak is about $250{\times}100m$ and benzene after 10 years, $490{\times}100m$. When the groundwater is abstracted about 50 days, which is maximum continuously sustained no-precipitation period during 30 years, with pumping rate of $100m^3/day$, THWELL program shows that the groundwater is adversly affected by sea water intrusion.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1841-1848
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• 2006

Insights into gene expression have the potential for improvement of antibiotic yield and the development of robust production hosts for use in recombinant biomolecule production. $Cubicin^{TM}$ (daptomycin for injection) is a recently approved antibiotic active against many Gram(+) pathogens, including those resistant to methicillin, vancomycin, and fluoroquinolones. Daptomycin is produced as a secondary metabolite by Streptomyces roseosporus. A 128 kb region of DNA including the daptomycin biosynthetic gene cluster (dpt) has been cloned. and sequenced. Using a selected array of nucleic acid probes representing this region, we compared the expression levels of the dpt genes between S. roseosporus wild-type (WT) and derived S. roseosporus high-producer of daptomycin (HP). We observed that the majority of the biosynthetic genes were upregulated in HP compared with WT; a total of 12 genes, including those encoding daptomycin synthetase, showed consistently and significantly higher expression levels, at least 5-fold, in HP compared with WT. In contrast, some genes, flanking the dpt cluster, were expressed at higher levels in the WT strain. The expression of housekeeping genes such as S. roseosporus rpsL, rpsG, and 16S (positive controls) and presumptive intergenic regions in the dpt cluster (negative control) were identical in the two strains. In addition, we compared transcription during the early, mid-log, and early-stationary phases of growth in the HP strain. The same set of genes was upregulated and downregulated under all conditions examined; housekeeping genes showed no relative change in expression level over the periods of growth tested. Analyses of this type would be of value in studies of strain improvement and also for the identification of gene regulation processes that are important for secondary metabolite production.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.181-182
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• 2003

Exposure to some synthetic environmental chemicals and their metabolites cause reproductive problems in a variety of vertebrate via endocrine mechanisms. However, in most cases, the link between these compounds and adverse effects on humans, fish, and wildlife has not been established, which necessitates a closer look at the molecular, functional, and clinical implications of these chemicals in the environment. Calbindin-D9k (CaBP-9k) is a member of a largo family of intracellular calcium binding proteins that have high affinities for calcium. It was reported that the estrogen level of uterus affected the expression of the CaBP-9k gene in rat uterus. We examined the dose-dependent CaBP-9K gene expression in the uterus for three-days injection of methoxychlor (HC) in the overectomized immature rats and the relation with uterotrophic response of the compoundsand compared the responses induced by MC according to the route of administration.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2009

It has been reported that dietary polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) increase liver injury in response to ethanol feeding. We tested the hypothesis that diets rich in linoleic acid (18:2n-6) would affect acute liver injury after acetaminophen injection and that protein restriction might exacerbate the liver injury. We examined effects of feeding diets with either 15% (wt/wt) corn oil or 14% beef tallow and 1% corn oil for six weeks with either 6 or 20 g/100 g protein on acute hepatotoxicity. After the feeding period, liver injury was induced by injecting either with 600 mg/kg body weight acetaminophen suspended in gum arabic-based vehicle, or with vehicle alone during fasting status. Samples of liver and plasma were taken for analyses of hepatic glutathione (GSH) levels and liver-specific enzymes [(Glutamate-pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT)], respectively. Whereas GSH level was significantly lower in only group fed 15% corn oil with 6 g/100 g protein among acetaminophen-treated groups, activities of GPT and GOT were significantly elevated in all groups except the one fed beef tallow with 20 g/100 g protein, suggesting low protein might exacerbate drug-induced hepatotoxicity. The feeding regimens changed the ratio of 18:2n-6 to oleic acid (18:1n-9) in total liver lipids approximately five-fold, and produced modest changes in arachidonic acid (20:4n-6). We conclude that diets with high 18:2n-6 promote acetaminophen-induced liver injury compared to diets with more saturated fatty acids (SFA). In addition, protein restriction appeared to exacerbate the liver injury.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.76-82
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• 2004

Pine needles are known as a traditional medicine and their ingestion has been shown to be beneficial to human beings. Following induction of the neoplastic process in rats by azoxymethane (AOM), we determined the effects of pine needle supplementation on colon carcinogenesis and on antioxidant systems in the blood and liver. Five week old male Fisher 344 rats were injected with AOM (15 mg/kg) once a week for two weeks. After the second injection, 18 rats were randomly assigned into two groups and were fed a casein-based high-fat diet (120 g fat and 1 g cholesterol/kg diet) with or without pine needle powder (10%w/w). After 6 weeks, rats receiving pine needle powder showed a 40% lower incidence of the number of colonic preneoplastic lesions (aberrant crypts) and a 52% lower incidence of aberrant crypt foci (p<0.01). A significantly elevated level of erythrocyte catalase activity was observed in the pine needle supplemented group (17.4$\pm$1.1 vs. 24.5$\pm$1.5, p<0.01). Pine needle supplementation also increased liver glutathione peroxidase activity (7.5$\pm$0.6 vs. 14.6$\pm$0.6, p<0.01). Other antioxidant parameters such as erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase, liver catalase activity, and plasma total antioxidant potential (TRAP), showed no statistical differences between the two groups. Our data demonstrate that pine needle supplementation improves the antioxidant system and suppresses the formation of colonic preneoplastic lesions in AOM-treated rats. This result provides additional insights into the chemo-preventative properties of pine needles.