• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1300-1306
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• 2010

Ethyl (R, S)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate (ECHB) is a useful chiral building block for the synthesis of L-carnitine and hypercholesterolemia drugs. The yeast reductase, YOL151W (GenBank locus tag), exhibits an enantioselective reduction activity, converting ethyl-4-chlorooxobutanoate (ECOB) exclusively into (R)-ECHB. YOL151W was generated in Escherichia coli cells and purified via Ni-NTA and desalting column chromatography. It evidenced an optimum temperature of $45^{\circ}C$ and an optimum pH of 6.5-7.5. Bacillus subtilis glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) was also expressed in Escherichia coli, and was used for the recycling of NADPH, required for the reduction reaction. Thereafter, Escherichia coli cells co-expressing YOL151W and GDH were constructed. After permeablization treatment, the Escherichia coli whole cells were utilized for ECHB synthesis. Through the use of this system, the 30 mM ECOB substrate could be converted to (R)-ECHB.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.57-66
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• 2018

It has been estimated that approximately 15% of reproductive-age couples suffer from infertility. Male factors contribute to almost half of infertility cases, and in many patients the underlying cause of oligoasthenoteratozoospermia is unknown. Accumulating evidence suggests that oxidative stress plays a role as a contributing factor to male infertility, and reactive oxygen species have been shown to impair sperm function and motility and to damage sperm membrane and DNA. Therefore, this review explored the evidence provided by studies published from 2002 to 2017 on the impact of oral antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin E, L-carnitine, coenzyme Q10, zinc, selenium, and pentoxifylline) on seminal fluid parameters in men with idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. Most of the studies were randomized controlled studies that investigated the effect of single or combined antioxidants and reported improvements in at least one semen parameter. The most noteworthy effect that was found was that the use of multiple antioxidants increased sperm motility and concentration. Nonetheless, there is a lack of agreement on the dose, the duration of treatment, and whether individual or combined oral antioxidants should be used. Therefore, the current review provides evidence supporting the use of oral antioxidants in the treatment of infertile men with idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.78 no.3
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• pp.281-285
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• 2015

Statins lower the hyperlipidemia and reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events and related mortality. A 60-year-old man who was diagnosed with a transient ischemic attack was started on acetyl-L-carnitine, cilostazol, and rosuvastatin. After rosuvastatin treatment for 4 weeks, the patient presented with sudden onset fever, cough, and dyspnea. His symptoms were aggravated despite empirical antibiotic treatment. All infectious pathogens were excluded based on results of culture and polymerase chain reaction of the bronchoscopic wash specimens. Chest radiography showed diffuse ground-glass opacities in both lungs, along with several subpleural ground-glass opacity nodules; and a foamy alveolar macrophage appearance was confirmed on bronchoalveolar lavage. We suspected rosuvastatin-induced lung injury, discontinued rosuvastatin and initiated prednisolone 1 mg/kg tapered over 2weeks. After initiating steroid therapy, his symptoms and radiologic findings significantly improved. We suggest that clinicians should be aware of the potential for rosuvastatin-induced lung injury.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.503-513
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• 2007

The obese population has been increasing worldwide and obesity has become one of the socioeconomic problems. Obesity raises more concerns as more studies regarding its direct and indirect relativity to several diseases such as type II diabetes, hypertension, etc. are published. Since leptin, an important signal in the chronic control of food intake and energy expenditure, was discovered in 1994, there has been a great accumulation of knowledge on fighting obesity by facilitating pharmacological and nutritional strategies on the molecular level of the body weight control system. In particular, evidences are accumulating that particular food components affect our physiological function and gene expressions which are associated with body weight control. In this study, we review the four mechanisms for weight control and antiobesity functional agents such as HCA, L-carnitine, CLA, chitosan, calcium supplements capsaicin contained in red pepper, and oriental herbal mixture. We also describe about the efficacy and working mechanism of these functional agents on the basis of antiobesity mechanisms.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.106-109
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• 2011

MCG는 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA의 결핍으로 발생하는 선천성 leucine 대사 장애이다. 무증상에서 간질지속증 등의 다양한 임상양상을 보이며 주로 신생아대사이상선별검사에서 의심되어, 소변 유기산 검사를 통해 3- hydroxyisovaleric acid의 증가의 소견이 보인다. 치료는 leucine 제한 식이와 L-carnitine의 복용 등의 식이요법이 있다. 서울아산병원에서 MCG로 확진된 9가계 11명의 환자를 대상으로 임상상과 분자 유전학적 특성을 조사하였다. 9명은 신생아 대사이상검사로 발견되었으며, 나머지 2명은 가족검사를 통해서 진단되었다. 총 2-10세($2.6{\pm}1.96$년)까지의 관찰 기간 동안 모든 환자는 정상 발달을 보였으며, 신경학적 이상이나 대사불균형의 이상소견은 보이지 않았다. 총 18개의 대립유전자 중 17개에서 돌연변이를 발견하였으며, p.D280Y 돌연변이가 66.7%의 대립유전자에서 확인되어, 한국인 MCG에서 흔한 돌연변이임을 알 수 있었다. 또한 p.S342K, p.P459S, p.552S, p.Q496H, p.T556A 등 대부분의 돌연변이가 이전에 보고된 바가 없던 돌연변이로 한국인 MCG환자의 유전학적 특성이 다른 민족과 다름을 시사한다.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.237-246
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• 2021

The taste-active and nutritional components of Thai native, broilers, black-boned, and spent hen chickens were analyzed. The amounts of tasty amino acids especially glutamic acid were the highest in Thai native chicken. The black-boned chicken had the highest arginine content, related to the least amount of consumer satisfaction. Concerning nutritional quality, choline, and taurine were deemed important for brain function. The black-boned chicken showed the highest choline and taurine contents, unlike that of the spent hens. In contrast, broilers presented the highest betaine content, which might be attributed to their lipid metabolism. L-carnitine content was abundant in black-boned and Thai native chickens. Moreover, the amounts of essential amino acids were high in Thai native chicken. In conclusion, black-boned chicken proved to be an excellent nutritional source for health-conscience consumers, whereas the Thai native chickens were flavourful and delicious.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.401-408
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• 2017

Salvia plebeia R. Br. (Lamiaceae) has been used in folk medicines in Asian countries, including Korea and China, to treat inflammatory diseases. The focus of our research was on the anti-adipogenic activity of ethanol extract from Salvia plebeia R. Br. (SPE) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. This study investigated inhibition of differentiation and lipogenesis upon SPE treatment in 3T3-L1 cells. The results reveal that SPE at non-cytotoxic concentration significantly suppressed triglyceride accumulation and reduced expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-alpha, and sterol regulatory element-binding protein as adipogenic transcription factors in 3T3-L1 adipocytes compared to non-treated control cells. Inducible phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase, acetyl CoA carboxylase, and hormone-sensitive lipase as well as carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 mRNA expression increased upon SPE treatment, which suppressed expression of fatty acid synthase. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that SPE can inhibit expression of adipogenic genes in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Our study suggests that SPE has potential anti-obesity effects and is a novel therapeutic functional agent with anti-adipogenic activity via reduction of lipogenesis.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2017

Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with multifactorial causes including environmental and genetic factors. Several studies have demonstrated that the organic cation/carnitine transporter 1 (OCTN1) non-synonymous variant L503F is associated with susceptibility to CD. However, it was reported that L503F is absent in Asian populations. Previously, we identified and functionally characterized genetic variants of the OCTN1 promoter region in Koreans. In that study, four variants demonstrated significant changes in promoter activity. In the present study, we determined whether four functional variants of the OCTN1 promoter play a role in the susceptibility to or clinical course of CD in Koreans. To examine it, the frequencies of the four variants of the OCTN1 promoter were determined by genotyping using DNA samples from 194 patients with CD and 287 healthy controls. Then, associations between genetic variants and the susceptibility to CD or clinical course of CD were evaluated. We found that susceptibility to CD was not associated with OCTN1 functional promoter variants or haplotypes showing altered promoter activities in in vitro assays. However, OCTN1 functional promoter haplotypes showing decreased promoter activities were significantly associated with a penetrating behavior in CD patients (HR=2.428, p=0.009). Our results suggest that the OCTN1 functional promoter haplotypes can influence the CD phenotype, although these might not be associated with susceptibility to this disease.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2022

Objective: This study examined whether the addition of triple antioxidants (3A)-10 µM acetyl-L-carnitine, 10 µM N-acetyl-L-cysteine, and 5 µM α-lipoic acid-in freezing-thawing medium during human sperm cryopreservation using the sucrose vitrification (SuV) and liquid nitrogen vapor (Vapor) techniques could improve post-thaw survival of spermatozoa. Methods: We analyzed 30 samples from healthy human sperm donors. Each sample was allocated into one of five groups: fresh control, SuV, SuV+3A, Vapor, and Vapor+3A. The sperm motility, morphology, viability, intracellular and extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) were evaluated. Results: The cryopreserved spermatozoa had significantly reduced percentages of motility (p<0.05) and viability (p<0.05). Antioxidant supplementation non-significantly improved these parameters (p>0.05). No significant differences were found in sperm morphology between the fresh and frozen-thawed groups (p>0.05). After freezing, the extracellular ROS levels in the frozen-thawed groups were significantly higher (p<0.05) than in the fresh group. However, we did not find any differences in intracellular ROS parameters among these groups (p>0.05). The SDF was higher in the SuV and Vapor groups than in the fresh group, but without statistical significance (p=0.075 and p=0.077, respectively). Conclusion: Cryopreservation had detrimental effects on sperm motility, viability, and extracellular ROS levels, without changing the morphology or intracellular ROS levels. Antioxidant supplementation was slightly effective in preventing SDF in frozen-thawed spermatozoa.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.40-43
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• 2015

Short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (SCAD) deficiency is an autosomal recessive mitochondrial disorder of fatty acid oxidation associated with mutations in the ACADS gene. While patients diagnosed clinically have a variable clinical presentation, patients diagnosed by newborn screening are largely asymptomatic. We describe here the case of a 1-year-old male patient who was detected by newborn screening and diagnosed as SCAD deficiency. Spectrometric screening for inborn errors of metabolism at 72hrs after birth showed elevated butyrylcarnitine (C4) level of 1.69 mol/L (normal, <0.83 mol/L), C4/C2 ration of 0.26 (normal, <0.09), C5DC+C60H level of 39 mol/L (normal, <0.28 mol/L), and C5DC/C8 ration of 7.36 (normal, <4.45). The follow-up testing at 18 days of age were performed: liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), urine organic acids, and quantitative acylcarnitine profile. C4 carnitine was elevated as 0.91; urine organic acid analysis showed elevated ethylmalonic acid as 62.87 nmol/molCr (normal, <6.5), methylsuccinate 6.81 nmol/molCr (normal, not detected). Sequence analysis of ACADS revealed a homozygous missense mutation, c.164C>T (p.Pro55Leu). He is growing well and no episodes of seizures or growth retardation had occurred.