• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2013

Taenia solium, T. saginata, and T. asiatica are taeniid tapeworms that cause taeniasis in humans and cysticercosis in intermediate host animals. Taeniases remain an important public health concerns in the world. Molecular diagnostic methods using PCR assays have been developed for rapid and accurate detection of human infecting taeniid tapeworms, including the use of sequence-specific DNA probes, PCR-RFLP, and multiplex PCR. More recently, DNA diagnosis using PCR based on histopathological specimens such as 10% formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded and stained sections mounted on slides has been applied to cestode infections. The mitochondrial gene sequence is believed to be a very useful molecular marker for not only studying evolutionary relationships among distantly related taxa, but also for investigating the phylo-biogeography of closely related species. The complete sequence of the human Taenia tapeworms mitochondrial genomes were determined, and its organization and structure were compared to other human-tropic Taenia tapeworms for which complete mitochondrial sequence data were available. The multiplex PCR assay with the Ta4978F, Ts5058F, Tso7421F, and Rev7915 primers will be useful for differential diagnosis, molecular characterization, and epidemiological surveys of human Taenia tapeworms.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.34-38
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to develop a cocktail approach for the measurement of the permeability of marker compounds, caffeine and propranolol (high permeability), ofloxacin (intermediate), atenolol (low), and quinidine (P-glycoprotein substrate), simultaneously. Then we compared the permeability in Caco-2 cells with that in rat intestinal segments. The difference between individual measurement and cocktail approach was less than 20 %, and the permeabilities of these compounds were similar to those previously reported, suggesting that the cocktail transport study and simultaneous drug analysis were successfully developed and validated in this study. Additionally, in the application of this cocktail method, the permeability of five drugs in rat jejunum was similar to that in ileum but different from that in colon, which was measured using the Ussing chamber system. Moreover, permeability in jejunum and ileum was similar to that in Caco-2 cells. In conclusion, the permeability in Caco-2 cells was equivalent to the permeability in rat jejunum and ileum determined with the Ussing system. Therefore, this newly developed cocktail assay and its application to the Ussing system can be a useful tool for robust and rapid screening for site-specific permeability in rat intestine, thus accelerating the prediction of absorption of new chemical entities.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2021

The mean age at menarche (AAM) of Korean females has been rapidly decreasing over the last 50 years; currently, the prevalence of early menarche (<12 years) is 22.3%. Female adolescents who experience early menarche are known to be at greater risk of psychosocial and behavioral problems along with several physical health problems such as menstrual problems. They also tend to achieve a shorter final height and develop obesity. Population-based Korean studies have shown a strong association between early menarche and the risk of obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Although the exact mechanism of how early menarche causes cardiometabolic derangement in later adulthood is unknown, childhood obesity and insulin resistance might be major contributors. Recent studies demonstrated that an excessive consumption of fructose might underlie the development of obesity and insulin resistance along with an earlier AAM. A positive association was observed between sugar-sweetened beverages (a major source of fructose) intake and obesity, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and cardiometabolic risk in Korean females. In pediatrics, establishing risk factors is important in preventing disease in later life. In this regard, early menarche is a simple and good marker for the management of cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood. Decreasing one's fructose intake might prevent early menarche as well as the development of obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiometabolic diseases.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.22.1-22.7
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• 2021

Fenbendazole (FBZ) is a commonly used anthelmintics in veterinary medicine that has recently been found to have anticancer effects in humans. On the other hand, few studies have examined the anti-inflammatory effects of FBZ, and its mechanism is unknown. In this study, mouse bone marrow cells (BMs) were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a representative inflammation-inducing substance, to generate a situation similar to osteomyelitis in vitro. The effect of FBZ on inflammatory BMs was examined by measuring the metabolic activity, surface marker expression, cell nuclear morphology, and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of BMs. FBZ decreased the metabolic activity and MMP of LPS-treated BMs. Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining and Hoechst 33342 staining showed that FBZ reduced the number of viable cells and induced the cell death of inflammatory BMs. In addition, FBZ reduced the proportion of granulocytes more than B lymphocytes in LPS-treated BMs. Overall, FBZ induces cell death by destabilizing the MMP of LPS-induced inflammatory BMs. In addition to anthelmintic and anticancer agent, FBZ can play a role as an anti-inflammatory agent.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.7
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• pp.557-567
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• 2019

TSPAN12, a member of the tetraspanin family, has been highly connected with the pathogenesis of cancer. Its biological function, however, especially in ovarian cancer (OC), has not been well elucidated. In this study, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset analysis revealed that upregulation of TSPAN12 gene expression was significantly correlated with patient survival, suggesting that TSPAN12 might be a potential prognostic marker for OC. Further exploration showed that TSPAN12 overexpression accelerated proliferation and colony formation of OVCAR3 and SKOV3 OC cells. Knockdown of TSPAN12 expression in A2780 and SKOV3 cells decreased both proliferation and colony formation. Western blot analysis showed that several cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) (e.g., Cyclin A2, Cyclin D1, Cyclin E2, CDK2, and CDK4) were significantly involved in the regulation of cell cycle downstream of TSPAN12. Moreover, TSPAN12 accelerated mitotic progression by controlling cell cycle. Thus, our data demonstrated that TSPAN12 could be a novel molecular target for the treatment of OC.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.110-116
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• 2018

Since a transmembrane protein, TMEM16A, also called anoctamin 1 (ANO1), was identified as a bona fide calcium ($Ca^{2+}$)-activated chloride ($Cl^-$) channel (CaCC), there have been many reports on its expression and function. However, limited information on ANO1 expression and function in the brain is still available. In this study, we tried to reexamine expression patterns of ANO1 in the mouse cerebellum and further characterize ANO1-expressing components by immunohistochemical analyses. Strong ANO1 immunoreactivity was observed as large puncta in the granule cell layer and weak to moderate immunoreactivities were observed as small puncta in the molecular and Purkinje cell layers. Double-label experiments revealed that ANO1 did not colocalize with cerebellar neuronal population markers, such as anti-calbindin and anti-NeuN, while it colocalized or intermingled with a presynaptic marker, anti-synaptophysin. These results demonstrate that ANO1 is mainly localized at presynaptic terminals in the cerebellum and involved in synaptic transmission and modulation in cerebellar information processing.

• BLOOD RESEARCH
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.294-298
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• 2018

Background Production of immunosuppressive enzymes such as indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is one of the strategies employed by hematologic malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), to circumvent immune surveillance. Moreover, IDO has the ability to convert $CD4^+CD25^-$ conventional T cells into regulatory T cells (Tregs). In this study, we evaluated the expression of IDO in cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) patients and its correlation with the Treg marker, FOXP3, as well as clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods Thirty-seven newly diagnosed CN-AML patients were enrolled in our study along with 22 healthy individuals. The expression of the IDO and FOXP3 genes was analyzed by SYBR Green real-time PCR. Results Both IDO and FOXP3 were highly upregulated in CN-AML patients compared to control groups (P=0.004 and P=0.031, respectively). A positive correlation was observed between IDO and FOXP3 expression among AML patients (r=0.512, P=0.001). Expression of IDO and FOXP3 showed no significant correlation with laboratory parameters such as white blood cell and platelet counts, hemoglobin levels, bone marrow blast percentage, gender, and FLT3 mutation status (P>0.05). Conclusion Higher IDO expression in CN-AML patients may be associated with an increased Treg phenotype which may promote disease progression and lead to poor prognosis of CN-AML patients.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.87-94
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• 2018

Hwaseong Fortress was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997 in recognition of its architectural, cultural, and historical significance. In order to provide a compelling and active experience to the visitors of Hwaseong Fortress more effectively and intuitively, an augmented reality (AR) mobile application is developed. The main objective of this paper is to describe the implementation of AR technology in the developed application; and most importantly, how the application is designed for the visitors to actively and intuitively experience the various architectural and historical contents of Hwaseong. The tour routes and their point of interests were selected carefully after deliberation of their contents. To maximize the user interaction with the application and the architectural contents of Hwaseong, not only the conventional AR technology (marker method), but also the markerless AR method is adopted in the developed application. It is expected that visitors of Hwaseong Fortress enjoy the tour, while learning the architectural, historical, and cultural contents through the active and intuitive interaction with the developed AR mobile application.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.345-352
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• 2021

Diarthron linifolium Turcz. is an annual herb usually found in sandy soil or limestone areas. Plants in the genus Diarthron are known to have toxic chemicals that may, however, be potentially useful as an anticancer treatment. Diarthron linifolium is a unique species among the species of the genus distributed in Korea. Here, we determine the genetic variation of D. linifolium collected in Korea with a full chloroplast genome and investigate its evolutionary status by means of a phylogenetic analysis. The chloroplast genome of Korean D. linifolium has a total length of 172,644 bp with four subregions; 86,158 bp of large single copy and 2,858 bp of small single copy (SSC) regions are separated by 41,814 bp of inverted repeat (IR) regions. We found that the SSC region of D. linifolium is considerably short but that IRs are relatively long in comparison with other chloroplast genomes. Various simple sequence repeats were identified, and our nucleotide diversity analysis suggested potential marker regions near ndhF. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that D. linifolium from Korea is a sister to the group of Daphne species.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1722-1731
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• 2021

The genus Streptomyces is intensively studied due to its excellent ability to produce secondary metabolites with diverse bioactivities. In particular, adequate precursors of secondary metabolites as well as sophisticated post modification systems make some high-yield industrial strains of Streptomyces the promising chassis for the heterologous production of natural products. However, lack of efficient genetic tools for the manipulation of industrial strains, especially the episomal vector independent tools suitable for large DNA fragment deletion, makes it difficult to remold the metabolic pathways and streamline the genomes in these strains. In this respect, we developed an efficient deletion system independent of the episomal vector for large DNA fragment deletion. Based on this system, four large segments of DNA, ranging in length from 10 kb to 200 kb, were knocked out successfully from three industrial Streptomyces strains without any marker left. Notably, compared to the classical deletion system used in Streptomyces, this deletion system takes about 25% less time in our cases. This work provides a very effective tool for further genetic engineering of the industrial Streptomyces.