• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.682-698
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• 2000

Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) functions as a suppressor of inflammation by inhibiting the expression of many cytokine genes activated by NF-${\kappa}B$. The goal of this study is to investigate the mechanism by which GR repress NF-${\kappa}B$ activation in lung epithelial cells. We used A549 and BEAS-2B lung epithelia! cell lines. Using Ig$G{\kappa}$-NF-${\kappa}B$ luciferase reporter gene construct, we found that dexamethasone significantly suppressed TNF-$\alpha$-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ activation and the overexpression of GR showed dose-dependent reduction of TNF-$\alpha$-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ activity in both cell lines. However, DNA binding of NF-${\kappa}B$ induced by TNF-$\alpha$ in electromobility shift assay was not inhibited by dexamethasone. Super shift assay with anti-p65 antibody demonstrated the existence of p65 in NF-${\kappa}B$ complex induced by $\alpha$ Western blot showed that $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ degradation induced by TNF-$\alpha$ was not affected by dexamethasone and $I{\kappa}B{\kappa}$ was not induced by dexamethasone, neither. To evaluate p65 specific transactivation, we adopted co-transfection study of Gal4-p65TA1 or TA2 fusion protein expression system together with 5xGal4-luciferase vector. Co-transfection of GR with Gal4-p65TA1 or TA2 repressed luciferase activity profoundly to the level of 10-20% of p65TA1- or TA2-induced transcriptional activity. And this transrepressional effect was abolished by co-transfection of CBP of SRC-1 expression vectors. These results suggest that GR-mediated transrepression of NF-${\kappa}B$ in lung epithelial cells is through competing for binding to limiting amounts of transcriptional coactivators, CBP or SRC-1.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.79 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for mechanical ventilation in the patients with scrub typhus admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) at a university hospital. Methods: We retrospectively selected and analyzed clinical data from the medical records of 70 patients (32 men, 38 women) admitted to the ICU with scrub typhus between 2004 and 2014. The patients had a mean${\pm}$standard deviation age of $71.2{\pm}11.1years$ and were evaluated in two groups: those who had been treated with mechanical ventilation (the MV group, n=19) and those who had not (the non-MV group, n=51). Mean ages of the MV group and the non-MV group were $71.2{\pm}8.3years$ and $71.2{\pm}11.1years$, respectively. Results: Significant differences between the two groups were observed with respect to acute respiratory failure (p=0.008), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score (p=0.015), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (p=0.013), death (p=0.014), and ICU duration (p<0.01). Multivariate analysis indicated that the following factors were significantly associated with mechanical ventilation: acute respiratory failure (p=0.011), SOFA score (p=0.005), APACHE II score (p=0.011), platelet count (p=0.009), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (p=0.011). Conclusion: Thus, five factors-acute respiratory failure, SOFA score, APACHE II score, platelet count, and LDH-can be the meaningful indicators for mechanical ventilation for the patients with scrub typhus admitted to ICU.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2012

The quality characteristics of kochujang added with additives of different ratios of rice-nuruk (at 1:0.7, 1:1.0, 1:1.3) were studied. The kochujang was stored for 8 weeks at $20{\pm}3^{\circ}C$. The brix tended to increase by increasing mixing ratio of rice-nuruk in all treatments. It increased rapidly up to 4 weeks fermentation and then showed a slight change after 6 weeks. The more mixing ratio of rice-nuruk increased, the more salinity of samples decreased. The initial pH value of kochujang was 5.08-5.10., however, the pH value decreased to 4.82-4.83 after an 8 weeks of storage period. The initial acid value was 0.66-0.68 and increased from 0.66-0.68 to 0.87-0.89. It had slight reduction phenomenon in the sixth week. As the aging period passed, chromaticity such as $a^*$- and $b^*$-values decreased gradually except for $L^*$-value. The moisture content of samples decreased gradually by adding rice-nuruk. but increased by passing an aging period. The initial amino nitrogen content of sample was 304-315 mg%. It increased to 399-442 mg% during the aging period. As the aging period passed, the total cell number increased from 6.81 log CFU/mL to 7.01 log CFU/mL in the fourth week and then steadily decreased to 6.66 log CFU/mL in the eight week. Results of sensory evaluation show that, as more rice-nuruk was added, the kochujang received a lower mark. There was no significant difference in flavor in all treatments. Color and sweetness with increasing amounts of rice-nuruk showed the lowest score. Saltiness rice-nuruk at the ratio of 1:1.0 was the highest at 6.22 points. Texture scores decreased with increasing amounts of the rice-nuruk Based on these results, the overall acceptability of the 1:0.7 rice-nuruk treatment which received the highest score is considered excellent.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.175-185
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• 2013

Purpose : The current Medical Law and the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, which are incapable of utilizing the research results and the advanced academic, clinical, and pharmaceutical system of the present-day Korean (Oriental) medicine, have limitations and create a paradox by provoking social conflict among the professionals in the field. The aim of this study was to find out the legal and systematic problems that contributed to a complicated conflict amongst Korean (Oriental) medicine doctors, doctors, pharmacists, and Korean (Oriental) pharmacists regarding the classification of their functions. Methods : We reviewed the history and characteristics of the legislation regarding the duties of Korean (Oriental) medicine doctors and Korean (Oriental) pharmacists as well as the relevant and important public health policies since the enactment of the National Medical Services Law in 1951. We focused on the laws and regulations that are made in the process of the separating functions of physicians and pharmacists and the dispute between the Korean (Oriental) medicine doctors and the Korean (Oriental) pharmacists in the 1990s and 2000s. Results : The legislations and amendments of the medical and pharmaceutical laws and regulations that reflect the modern academic, clinical, and pharmaceutical system of the Korean (Oriental) medicine and the research results could be summarized as follows: 1) A partial amendment of the Medical Law in 1987, which added the provision of "Oriental health guidance" as one of the duties of Korean (Oriental) medicine doctors, assured a place for Korean (Oriental) medicine doctors in the field of public health. 2) A partial revision of Pharmaceutical Affairs Act in 1994 established a new system for Korean (Oriental) pharmacists, bringing about the creation of dualistic pharmaceutical system that complements the dualistic medical system. 3) The Promotion of the Research and Development of Wonder Drugs by Using Natural Substances Act was legislated in 2000 in order to stimulate research and development of Korean (Oriental) medicine and its industrialization. 4) Oriental Medicine Promotion Act in 2003 was enacted to lay foundation to specify and promote technology and industry that are related to Korean (Oriental) medicine. Discussions and conclusions : Although the dualistic medical and pharmaceutical system is set up by the Medical Law and Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, it is shown that the relevant regulations have been developed from a perspective of the western medicine.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.391-395
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• 2004

The demand for the production of gene-defective mice from embryonic stem (ES) cells is increasing to clarify decisive gene function in vivo. Although blastocyst injection is widely used to generate ES cell-mediated knockout mice, coculture method has been alternatively used because of several advantages, such as low cost and simple procedure. Thus, this experiment was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of the coculture method using J1 ES cells, which are known to be efficient for blastocyst injection. Eight-cell embryos were harvested from 2.5 days post-coitum (dpc), denuded with acid tyrode's solution, and transferred onto trypsinized J1 ES cells. Aggregation was carried out following two typical methods, which are simple coculture method and aggregation in groove prepared by aggregation needle. Successfully aggregated-embryos were developed to blastocysts for 24 h and transferred into uterus of pseudo-pregnant foster mother. Chimeric offspring was judged by coat pigmentation. In this study, we could obtain chimeric mice from all the two aggregation methods, but the chimera production efficiencies in coculture using groove were three times higher at least than those in the other group. In conclusion, these observations suggest that coculture method should be available for production of knockout mice from J1 ES cells. Presently, the germ-line transmission rates of the chimeras produced from the two methods are under investigation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.92-97
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• 2018

B cell leukemia/lymphoma 3 (Bcl3) plays a pivotal role in immune homeostasis, cellular proliferation, and cell survival, as a co-activator or co-repressor of transcription of the $NF-{\kappa}B$ family. Recently, it was reported that Bcl3 positively regulates pluripotency genes, including Oct4, in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). However, the role of Bcl3 in the maintenance of pluripotency and self-renewal activity is not fully established. Here, we report the dynamic regulation of the proliferation, pluripotency, and self-renewal of mESCs by Bcl3 via an influence on Nanog transcriptional activity. Bcl3 expression is predominantly observed in immature mESCs, but significantly decreased during cell differentiation by LIF depletion and in mESC-derived EBs. Importantly, the knockdown of Bcl3 resulted in the loss of self-renewal ability and decreased cell proliferation. Similarly, the ectopic expression of Bcl3 also resulted in a significant reduction of proliferation, and the self-renewal of mESCs was demonstrated by alkaline phosphatase staining and clonogenic single cell-derived colony assay. We further examined that Bcl3-mediated regulation of Nanog transcriptional activity in mESCs, which indicated that Bcl3 acts as a transcriptional repressor of Nanog expression in mESCs. In conclusion, we demonstrated that a sufficient concentration of Bcl3 in mESCs plays a critical role in the maintenance of pluripotency and the self-renewal of mESCs via the regulation of Nanog transcriptional activity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1314-1323
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• 2010

In this study, we constructed various kinds of binary vectors with the pPZP backbone for co-overexpression, tissue- or development-specific expression and stress-inducible expression, and validated them for ectopic expression of target genes. Using a modified CaMV 35S promoter, a binary vector was generated for co-overexpression of two different genes and was confirmed to be efficient for overexpressing two different target genes at the same time and place. Binary vectors containing At2S3, KNAT1 or LFY promoters were constructed for tissue-specific or development-specific gene expression, and the binary vectors were suited for embryo/young seedling stage-, shoot apical meristem- or leaf primordia-specific expressions. Furthermore, the binary vectors containing RD29A or AtNCED3 promoters were validated as suitable vectors for gene expression induced by abiotic stresses such as high salt, ABA, MV and low temperature. Taken together, the binary vectors constructed in this study would be very useful for analyzing the biological functions of target genes and molecular mechanisms through ectopic expression.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.570-579
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• 2020

Pre-mRNA splicing is a crucial step for the expression of information encoded in eukaryotic genomes. Alternative splicing occurs when splice sites are differentially recognized and more than one transcript and potentially multiple proteins are generated from the same pre-mRNA. The decision on which splice sites are selected under particular cellular conditions is determined by the interaction of proteins, globally designated as splicing factors, that guide spliceosomal components, and thereby the spliceosome, to their respective splice sites. Abiotic stresses such as heat, cold, salt, drought, and hypoxia markedly alter alternative splicing patterns in plants, and these splicing events implement changes in gene expression for adaptive responses to adverse environments. Alteration of the expression or activity of splicing factors results in alternative splicing under cold, heat, salt, or drought conditions, and alternatively spliced isoforms respond distinctly in several aspects such as expression in different tissues or degradation via nonsense-mediated decay. Spliced isoforms may vary in their subcellular localization or have different biological functions under stress conditions. Despite numerous studies, functional analyses of alternative splicing have been limited to particular abiotic stresses; the molecular mechanism of alternative splicing in abiotic stress response remains uncovered which suggests that further studies are needed in this area.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2009

The common octopus, Octopus vulgaris is commercially important species in Korea. Korean fishing vessels have actively caught it. However, the study of this species has been poorly known. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide information about maturation and spawning period of this species. Samplings have been monthly collected in Tongyoung and Sacheon of Gyeongsangnam-do, using traps. A total of 748 individuals were sampled from February 2007 to January 2008. We analyzed monthly changes in maturity stages, gonadosomatic index, total weight at 50% group maturity. The octopus total weight was between 128.6 and 3381.4 g. Females were distributed between 129.8 and 3381.4 g and males between 128.6 and 2378.4 g. The spawning periods were May to June and September. The total weight at 50% group maturity was estimated to be 919.6 g.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.161-166
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• 2008

Samples were collected monthly from coastal water around Tongyeong and Sacheon in Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea, using traps. A total of 748 Octopus vulgaris were sampled from February 2007 to January 2008. Monthly changes of maturity stages and sex ratio of the common octopus were observed. Mean biomass (total wet weight) of the female specimens ranged from 129.8 to 3,381.4 g and that of the male specimens ranged from 128.6 and 2,378.4 g. The spawning periods were May to June and September. The fecundity ranged from 5,715 eggs at 252.0 g to 240,990 eggs at 3,381.4 g of total wet weight. The relationship between total wet weight (TW) and fecundity (F) was F = 26.539 $TW^{1.1548}$ ($r^2=0.8199$) and fecundity increased with total wet weight. Sex ratio was not significantly different from the 1:1 (p > 0.05).