• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.134-142
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• 2008

The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence and type of nutritional ergogenic aids use, and to determine the frequency, reasons for use of nutritional ergogenic aids. Thirty-four male bodybuilders (mean age = 27.0 years), twenty-four male weight lifters (mean age = 20.9 years) participated in the study. Participants completed a comprehensive survey detailing their usage patterns. In this study, 78.1% of bodybuilders and 79.2% of weight lifters reported using nutritional ergogenic aids. The most frequently taken nutritional ergogenic aids, in ranking order, were protein/amino acid powders (79.4%), multivitamin/minerals (67.7%) and creatine (67.6%) for bodybuilders, in contrast to sports drinks (100.0%), protein/amino acid powders (50.5%) and creatine (50.5%) for weight lifters. Over the half of the respondents, 79.4% of bodybuilders and 50.6% of weight lifters, used protein/amino acid powders to gain muscle mass and to stay healthy. Bodybuilders, 67.6% and weight lifters, 41.7%, used multivitamin/minerals to stay healthy and for energy. The intakes of most vitamin and minerals through diet and nutritional ergogenic aids were much greater than RDA. Vitamin $B_1$, vitamin $B_2$, niacin, vitamin $B_6$ and folate intakes were ranged at 400-900%. Vitamin C intake was 1285.4% (for bodybuilders) and 1322.6% (for weight lifters). The correct answer rate of nutritional ergogenic aids was 46.0% for bodybuilders and 52.0% for weight lifters. Both bodybuilders and weight lifters took highly nutritional ergogenic aids and it tended to be taken irrespective of scientific background. Specific sport nutrition education applicable to athletes, especially strength athletes, is recommended. The findings of this investigation could be used to enable the professionals (sports dietician and physician) to identity common misconceptions regarding nutritional ergogenic aids and to implement educational programs.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2014

To determine a suitable dietary protein/lipid (CP/CL) ratio in the early juvenile stages of hybrid porgy ($F_1$), female red sea bream (RSB) ${\times}$ male black sea bream, five diets with various CP/CL ratios-60/7, 55/12, 51/17, 46/23, and 41/28-were prepared and provided to juveniles in triplicate. At the smaller juvenile stage, $F_1$, weighing 0.32 g, a significantly higher specific growth rate (SGR) and feed efficiency (FE) were seen with 60/7 and 55/12 diets. However, in RSB weighing 0.26 g, SGR and FE were higher with the 60/7 diet than the other diets at $21^{\circ}C$. At the larger juvenile stage, $F_1$, weighing 3.7 g, there was no significant difference in SGR or FE among the diets, but RSB weighing 4.0 g fed 60/7, 55/12, and 51/17 diets had higher SGR and FE than 46/23 and 41/28 diets at $24^{\circ}C$. Moreover, survival and apparent nutrient retention of $F_1$ at both stages were significantly higher than those in RSB. These results indicate that both $F_1$ and RSB weighing ca. 0.3 g require a higher dietary CP/CL than those weighing ca. 4 g. Additionally, $F_1$ in both trials showed the suitability of a lower dietary CP/CL than RSB, indicating that mass production of $F_1$ juveniles will be more economical than RSB.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.86-106
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• 1986

For the comparative study of protein patterns of the sera of pregnant women, the protein in sera of normal male subjects, non-pregnant women, pregnant women and women delivered of children were analyzed by using the methods of SDS/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, two-dimensional electrophoresis and amino acid analysis. The results were as follows: 1. When the protein patterns of sera in normal male ranging from 10, 000 to 110, 000 daltons were compared to non-pregnant women by SDS/polyacrylamide gel electrohporesis, their protein patterns were same each other numerically but bands 3(22, 000 dalton) and 6(39, 000) were less in male than in non-pregnant women quantitatively. When the protein patterns in the pregnant women in which serum were collected two week intervals were compared with non-pregnant women, there was increased or decreased in several bands quantitavely. The protein patterns of sera in pregnant women were compared with those of non-pregnant women; band 3(22, 000) showed similar patterns each other until the 16th week but the quantity of protein was decreased continously from the 18th week to the third trimester of pregnancy. Contary, bands 4(24, 000), 9(69, 000), 10(70, 000), 12(80, 000), 14(86, 000), 15(91, 000) and 16(94, 000) were gradually increased in quantity from the begining of gestation, and band 7(51, 000) was increased until the 32th week of gestation only but somewhat decreased after this time. The quantities of bands 12(80, 000), 15(91, 000) and 16(94, 000) were relatively increased when the protein patterns of delivered women were compared with those of the third trimester of pregnancy. Women who were dilivered female children showed more increase in bands 4(24, 000), 7(51, 000) and 10(70, 000)than one who were delivered male chilren. 2. When the protein patterns of sera in normal males were compared with those of nonpregnant women by two-dimensional electrophoresis, three spots of spot a group were not appeared in the males and the spot c group in the males was less than in the non-pregnant women. In the pregnant women, albumin was significantly decreased during the 10-12 week of gestation but recovered after these times. And spot f(70, 000) was decreased in the 10th week of gestation but increased from this time. 3. Glutamic acid, lysine, aspartic acid, leucine and valine in pregnant women were large in quantity while methionine, isoleucine and glycine were small in quantity by amino acid analysis. The total amino acids were increased remarkably in the second trimester of pregnancy but began to decrease in the third trimester of pregnancy. As mentioned, this present paper deat with that proteins which consist of maternal serum were increased with specific period in pregnancy and that the change of characteristic protein patterns were identified in the serum protein of each trimester in the pregnant women. And furthermore, the study should be preformed for the sex-identification of a fetus in the early pregnancy.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.264-270
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• 2005

Breastfeeding has been known as the best feeding practice to prevent allergies including atopic dermatitis (AD) However, the benefit on the prevention of allergic disease is still controversial. The objectives of this study were to examine the rate of sensitization to the protein of eggs, cow's milk and soy in exclusively breastfed infants and to evaluate antigen-antibody reaction between breast milk and serum of AD infant. Data on feeding and food hypersensitivity were obtained for 62 AD infants (32 male, 30 female) aged < 6 month who had visited Samsung Medical Center from September 2001 to May 2003. Food hypersensitivity was determined by measuring specific IgE to egg, cow's milk and soy. Specific IgE levels > 0.7 kU/L by CAP assay (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden) were considered positive. The rates of sensitization in breastfed infants were $41.9\%$ (26/62) to egg, $30.6\%$ (19/62) to milk and $18.0\%$ (11/62) to soy. Immunoblotting analyses were performed using breast milk with the matched serum of seven AD infants (4 male/3 female). Binding patterns of AD infant's IgE to breast milk extract showed visible specific band for immunoglobulin, especially in case of a lactating mother who did not completely restricted ingestion of egg, milk and soy. These results indicate that sensitization to food allergen develops via breast milk feeding. Breast milk feeding should be recommended in infants at risk of developing allergic disease, but maternal intake of highly allergenic food might be restricted for prevention and treatment of food allergy among the babies with AD.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.374-382
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• 2017

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains unexplained and untreated despite the high attention of research in recent years. Aside from its various characteristics is the baffling male preponderance over the female population. Using a validated animal model of ASD which is the telomerase reverse transcriptase overexpressing mice (TERT-tg), we conducted ASD-related behavioral assessments and protein expression experiments to mark the difference between male and females of this animal model. After statistically analyzing the results, we found significant effects of TERT overexpression in sociability, social novelty preference, anxiety, nest building, and electroseizure threshold in the males but not their female littermates. Along these differences are the male-specific increased expressions of postsynaptic proteins which are the NMDA and AMPA receptors in the prefrontal cortex. The vGluT1 presynaptic proteins, but not GAD, were upregulated in both sexes of TERT-tg mice, although it is more significantly pronounced in the male group. Here, we confirmed that the behavioral effect of TERT overexpression in mice was male-specific, suggesting that the aberration of this gene and its downstream pathways preferentially affect the functional development of the male brain, consistent with the male preponderance in ASD.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.12-25
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• 1994

This research was undertaken to determine the effects of the anticancer and immunosuppressive drug cyclophosphamide (CP) on the epididymis of the male rat in terms of ultrastructural alteration and protein analysis by SDS-PAGE at different groups; control group, 1 week group, 3 weeks group, 5 weeks group were treated with saline (control group) or CP at doses of 20mg/Kg/week, 1 time a week, respectively. In the cytoplasm of the principal cells on the epididymis, the mitochondrial outer and inner membranes were significantly swollen or disrupted. The cisterns of rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) were also swollen, and a number of Golgi vesicles were increased, respectively. It is suggested that treatment with CP alters the specific cell organelles in all segments of the epididymis. CP caused changes in protein concentrations in cauda of epididymis after CP treatment. Total proteins of 30 to 39 species such as lactate dehydrogenase, carnitine acetyltransferase and acid phosphatase were expressed in the cauda fluid. Then the more CP was increased, the more concentration of proteins caused to decrease, synthesize or increase in epididymal cauda. In contrast to the control group, in particular 29KD and the other 10 proteins in the cauda fluid were decreased or disappeared, respectively, whereas 89KD and the other 6 proteins in the cauda, were increased or synthesized, respectively. The other proteins are not showed distinctive difference. Therefore, it is possible that CP at a high dose accumulation alters epididymal function with dose-related increase or decrease in specific activity of marked proteins for all regions of the epididymis (particularly, specific segment of cauda). These alterations could be mediated by direct, toxic effects of the drug on the epithelium or be secondary to changes in the spermatozoa as a result of the CP treatment.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.190-199
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• 2023

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.: Arecaceae) is a dioecious species where only female trees bear fruits. In their natural state, date palms produce dates once a year. However, in Thailand, some trees were observed to produce dates during the off-season, despite no variations in morphology. The availability of such off-season fruits can significantly increase their market value. Interestingly, most female off-season date palms investigated in this study were obtained through micropropagation. Hence, there is an urgent need for genetic markers to distinguish female offseason flowering plantlets within tissue culture systems. In this study, we aimed to develop random amplification of polymorphic DNA-sequence characterized amplified region (RAPD-SCAR) markers for the identification of female off-season flowering date palms cultivated in Thailand. A total of 160 random decamer primers were employed to screen for specific RAPD markers in off-season flowering male and female populations. Out of these, only one primer, OPN-02, generated distinct genomic DNA patterns in female off-season flowering (FOFdp) individuals compared to female seasonal flowering genotypes. Based on the RAPD-specific sequence, specific SCAR primers denoted as FOFdpF and FOFdpR were developed. These SCAR primers amplified a single 517-bp DNA fragment, predominantly found in off-season flowering populations, with an accuracy rate of 60%. These findings underscore the potential of SCAR marker technology for tracking offseason flowering in date palms. Notably, a BLAST analysis revealed a substantial similarity between the SCAR marker sequence and the transcript variant mRNA from Phoenix dactylifera encoding the SET DOMAIN GROUP 40 protein. In Arabidopsis, this protein is involved in the epigenetic regulation of flowering time. The genetic potential of the off-season flowering traits warrants further elucidation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1347-1354
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• 2006

The aims of this study were to establish a simple and effective method for isolating male germline stem cells (GSCs), and to test the possibility of using these cells as a new approach for male infertility treatment. Testes obtained from neonatal and adult mice were manually decapsulated. GSCs were collected from seminiferous tubules by a two-step enzyme digestion method and plated on gelatin-coated dishes. Over 5-7 days of culture, GSCs obtained from neonates and adults gave rise to large multicellular colonies that were subsequently grown for 10 passages. During in vitro proliferation, oct-4 and two immunological markers (Integrin ${\beta}1,\;{\alpha}6$) for GSCs were highly expressed in the cell colonies. During another culture period of 6 weeks to differentiate to later stage germ cells, the expression of oct-4 mRNA decreased in GSCs and Sertoli cells encapsulated with calcium alginate, but the expression of c-kit and testis-specific histone protein 2B(TH2B) mRNA as well as the localization of c-kit protein was increased. Expression of transition protein (TP-l) and localization of peanut agglutinin were not seen until 3 weeks after culturing, and appeared by 6 weeks of culture. The putative spermatids derived from GSCs supported embryonic development up to the blastocyst stage with normal chromosomal ploidy after chemical activation. Thus, GSCs isolated from neonatal and adult mouse testes were able to be maintained and proliferated in our simple culture conditions. These GSCs have the potential to differentiate into haploid germ cells during another long-term culture.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.132-141
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• 2015

Objectives: With recent advances in nanoparticle manufacturing and applications, potential exposure to nanoparticles in various settings is becoming increasing likely. No investigation has yet been performed to assess whether respiratory tract exposure to cerium oxide ($CeO_2$) nanoparticles is associated with alterations in protein signaling, inflammation, and apoptosis in rat lungs. Methods: Specific-pathogen-free male Sprague-Dawley rats were instilled with either vehicle (saline) or $CeO_2$ nanoparticles at a dosage of 7.0 mg/kg and euthanized 1, 3, 14, 28, 56, or 90 days after exposure. Lung tissues were collected and evaluated for the expression of proteins associated with inflammation and cellular apoptosis. Results: No change in lung weight was detected over the course of the study; however, cerium accumulation in the lungs, gross histological changes, an increased Bax to Bcl-2 ratio, elevated cleaved caspase-3 protein levels, increased phosphorylation of p38 MAPK, and diminished phosphorylation of ERK-1/2-MAPK were detected after $CeO_2$ instillation (p<0.05). Conclusions: Taken together, these data suggest that high-dose respiratory exposure to $CeO_2$ nanoparticles is associated with lung inflammation, the activation of signaling protein kinases, and cellular apoptosis, which may be indicative of a long-term localized inflammatory response.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.251-260
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• 2015

Propofol is an anesthetic agent that gained wide use because of its fast induction of anesthesia and rapid recovery post-anesthesia. However, previous studies have reported immediate neurodegeneration and long-term impairment in spatial learning and memory from repeated neonatal propofol administration in animals. Yet, none of those studies has explored the sex-specific long-term physical changes and behavioral alterations such as social (sociability and social preference), emotional (anxiety), and other cognitive functions (spatial working, recognition, and avoidance memory) after neonatal propofol treatment. Seven-day-old Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats underwent repeated daily intraperitoneal injections of propofol or normal saline for 7 days. Starting fourth week of age and onwards, rats were subjected to behavior tests including open-field, elevated-plus-maze, Y-maze, 3-chamber social interaction, novel-object-recognition, passive-avoidance, and rotarod. Rats were sacrificed at 9 weeks and hippocampal protein expressions were analyzed by Western blot. Results revealed long-term body weight gain alterations in the growing rats and sex-specific impairments in spatial (female) and recognition (male) learning and memory paradigms. A markedly decreased expression of hippocampal NMDA receptor GluN1 subunit in female- and increased expression of AMPA GluR1 subunit protein expression in male rats were also found. Other aspects of behaviors such as locomotor activity and coordination, anxiety, sociability, social preference and avoidance learning and memory were not generally affected. These results suggest that neonatal repeated propofol administration disrupts normal growth and some aspects of neurodevelopment in rats in a sex-specific manner.