• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.392-402
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• 2017

Background: Previously, we reported that Korean Red Ginseng inhibited liver fibrosis in mice and reduced the expressions of fibrogenic genes in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). The present study was undertaken to identify the major ginsenoside responsible for reducing the numbers of HSCs and the underlying mechanism involved. Methods: Using LX-2 cells (a human immortalized HSC line) and primary activated HSCs, MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide) assays were conducted to examine the cytotoxic effects of ginsenosides. $H_2O_2$ productions, glutathione contents, lactate dehydrogenase activities, mitochondrial membrane permeabilities, apoptotic cell subpopulations, caspase-3/-7 activities, transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining, and immunoblot analysis were performed to elucidate the molecular mechanism responsible for ginsenoside-mediated cytotoxicity. Involvement of the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-related signaling pathway was examined using a chemical inhibitor and small interfering RNA (siRNA) transfection. Results and conclusion: Of the 11 ginsenosides tested, 20S-protopanaxadiol (PPD) showed the most potent cytotoxic activity in both LX-2 cells and primary activated HSCs. Oxidative stress-mediated apoptosis induced by 20S-PPD was blocked by N-acetyl-$\text\tiny L$-cysteine pretreatment. In addition, 20S-PPD concentration-dependently increased the phosphorylation of AMPK, and compound C prevented 20S-PPD-induced cytotoxicity and mitochondrial dysfunction. Moreover, 20S-PPD increased the phosphorylation of liver kinase B1 (LKB1), an upstream kinase of AMPK. Likewise, transfection of LX-2 cells with LKB1 siRNA reduced the cytotoxic effect of 20S-PPD. Thus, 20S-PPD appears to induce HSC apoptosis by activating LKB1-AMPK and to be a therapeutic candidate for the prevention or treatment of liver fibrosis.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.34
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• pp.415-447
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• 2009

It is encouraging fact that people are more interested in collecting modern archaic art objects of Korea with broadening spectrum of research these days. For the research in this area is significant in that it makes us learn the level of collection and appreciation which were prevalent at the end of the Josen Age by trend of preferring Occidental pictures as well as modern change in the form of collection, and enables us to reconstruct the history of modern art objects in East Asia. Except Jeon, Hyung-Pil(全鎣弼: 1906-1962), the modern collectors of Korea were not studied in details with respect to the course or contents of collection. Besides Jeon, Hyung Pil, the main modern collectors of Korea were Park, Young-cheol(朴榮喆: 1879-1939), Kim, Yong-jin(金容鎭: 1882-1968), Ham, Seok-tae(咸錫泰: 1889-?), Kim, Sung-soo(金性洙: 1891-1955), Choi, Chang-hak(崔昌學: 1891-?), Jang, Taek-sang(張澤相: 1893-1969), Kim, Chan-young(金瓚泳: 1893-?), Lee, Han-bok(李漢福: 1897-1940), Park, Chang-hun(朴昌薰: 1898-1951), Baek, In-je(白麟濟: 1898-?), Lee, Byung-jik(李秉直: -1973), et al. The object of this publication in serial form is to trace and identify the life, collected articles and contents of collection of Korean collectors who intensively collected archaic art objects in the modern age of Korea, especially, under the rule of Japanese imperialism. The first person to be introduced in this publication in serial form is Jang, Taek Sang, a leading figure in the political history of Korea. Born as the son of wealthy man, he ascended to the position of prime minister, leading a dramatic life. Being a distinguished orator, Jang, Taek Sang was well known as an appreciator and collector of picture, calligraphy and pottery. As one of the collectors of main cultural property under the rule of Japanese imperialism, Jang, Taek Sang collected countless distinguished heritages, most of which were lost during the Korean War. As he became a candidate for president to compete with Lee, Seung Man later, he sold main heritages. Thus, nearly all of the collected articles were scattered.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.4
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• pp.464-471
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• 2009

Vegetation types of the native conifer forests in the ridge of the Baekdudaegan, South Korea, were classified using the Braun-Blanquet method and TWINSPAN and its ecological characteristics analyzed with special repect to floristic composition. The vegetation type was classified into two types (Pinus densiflora-Carex humilis and Pinus koraiensis-Dryopteris crassirhizoma types) and seven groups. Mean species richness and total plot cover per unit area ($/100m^2$) were $21.9{\pm}8.9$ spp. and $146.9{\pm}32.3$%, respectively. The plant species composed of 82 families, 217 genera, and 387 species and the three major families, Compositae, Liliaceae, and Rosaceae, made up about 25.6% of the total species. The 7.8% of total families were the families with occurrence of only one species. The highest relative importance value was 19.2, the species belonged to Pinaceae and the pattern was different from species richness pattern of other families.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.202-210
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• 2001

Recently, XML is emerging as a web document standard and researches on storing and querying XML documents using existing RDBMS are actively in progress. In this paper, we propose a method that enables users to view and use XML documents like a relational table by extending concept of RDBMS's SQL view and. table function. In our approach, XML documents are existed independently of RDBMS and users can register relational schema of necessary part of XML document by using XML-View definition statement. Registered XML-View can be queried by SQL, and XML -table function is internally used so that XML - View can be accessed and used like a relational table. The proposed method enables users to access XML documents by providing the XML- View definition syntax and the table-function for existing RDBMS. Also, when schema modification for XML is needed, user can handle by modification of the XML- View definition.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.138-141
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• 2009

Purpose: Squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp sometimes exhibits unusually aggressive behavior. We report a case of extradordinarily aggressive squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp with invasion into the skull and dura mater. Method: The patient is a 38-year-old man with two cystic masses on the occipital area. He was diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma in that region and have undergone surgical resections including cortical osteotomy of the skull, several years ago. On this occasion, 3-dimensional computed tomographic imaging revealed an erosive lesion on the occipital bone and magnetic resonance imaging showed two cystic masses invasion into the skull and dura mater. Results: He has undergone wide resection of the masses and cranioplasty with dural repair. Histopathologic examination indicated squamous cell carcinoma with moderate differentiation of the masses, bone marrow and dura mater. Conclusion: Squamous cell carcinoma on the scalp can readily penetrate the full thickness of the cranium and invade the dura mater, sagittal sinus and brain. We suggest wide resection of the scalp and split thickness skin graft with sentinel lymph node biopsy, following by postoperative radiation therapy.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2014

A LFSR is commonly used for various stream cryptography applications to generate random numbers. A Leap-ahead LFSR was presented to generate a multi-bits random number per cycle. It only requires a single LFSR and it has an advantages in hardware complexity. However, it suffers from the significant reduction of maximum period of the generated random numbers. This paper presents the new segmented Leap-ahead LFSR to solve this problem. It consists of two segmented LFSRs. We prove the efficiency of the proposed segmented architecture using the precise mathematical analysis. We also demonstrate the proposed comparison results with other counterparts using Xinilx Vertex5 FPGA. The proposed architecture can increase 2.5 times of the maximum period of generated random numbers compared to the typical Leap-ahead architecture.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1698-1702
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• 2013

Glucose is a common medical analyte measuring in human serum or blood samples. The development of a primary method is necessary for the establishment of traceability in measurements. We have developed an isotope dilution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry as a primary method for the measurement of glucose in human serum. Glucose and glucose-$^{13}C_6$ in sample were ionized in ESI negative mode and monitored at mass transfers of m/z 179/89 and 185/92 in MRM, respectively. Glucose was separated on $NH_2P$-50 2D column, and the mobile phase was 20 mM $NH_4OAc$ in 30% acetonitrile/70% water. Verification of this method was performed by the comparison with NIST SRMs. Our results agreed well with the SRM values. We have developed two levels of glucose serum certified reference material using this method and distributed them to the clinical laboratories in Korea as samples for proficiency testings. The expended uncertainty was about 1.2% on 95% confidence level. In proficiency testings, the results obtained from the clinical laboratories showed about 3.6% and 3.9% RSD to the certified values. Primary method can provide the traceability to the field laboratories through proficiency testings or certified reference materials.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.213-220
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• 2015

Background: Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is a perennial herb prone to various root diseases, with Phytophthora cactorum being considered one of the most dreaded pathogens. P. cactorum causes foliar blight and root rot. Although chemical pesticides are available for disease control, attention has been shifted to viable, eco-friendly, and cost-effective biological means such as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) for control of diseases. Methods: Native Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain HK34 was isolated from wild ginseng and assessed as a biological control agent for ginseng. Leaves from plants treated with HK34 were analyzed for induced systemic resistance (ISR) against P. cactorum in square plate assay. Treated plants were verified for differential expression of defense-related marker genes using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: A total of 78 native rhizosphere bacilli from wild P. ginseng were isolated. One of the root-associated bacteria identified as B. amyloliquefaciens strain HK34 effectively induced resistance against P. cactorum when applied as soil drench once (99.1% disease control) and as a priming treatment two times in the early stages (83.9% disease control). A similar result was observed in the leaf samples of plants under field conditions, where the percentage of disease control was 85.6%. Significant upregulation of the genes PgPR10, PgPR5, and PgCAT in the leaves of plants treated with HK34 was observed against P. cactorum compared with untreated controls and only pathogen-treated plants. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate HK34 as a potential biocontrol agent eliciting ISR in ginseng against P. cactorum.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.74-88
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• 2002

Objectives : This study is aimed to investigate the effects of bee venom and melittin on cell death in synovial cell line. Methods : It was evaluated by using MTT assay, morphologic method, DNA fragmenation, NO generation, flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry analysis, RT-PCR, Western blot. Results : The obtained results are summarized as follows: 1. The MTT assay demonstrated that synovial cell viability was significantly inhibitted dose-dependently by treatment with bee venom and melittin in comparison with control. 2. The morphologic study demonstrated that synovial cell showed apoptosis after treatment with bee venom and melittin for 6 hours using microscope. 3. In case of NO generation bee venom group and melittin group showed significant inhibition in comparison with control. 4. The Flow cytometry demonstrated that apoptosis of synovial cell treated with bee venom and melittin was related with stop of cell cycle in stage of $G_0/G_1$. 5. DNA fragmenation demonstrated that synovial cell treated with bee venom and melittin showed DNA ladder below l Kbp. 6. Immunocytochemistry assay demonstrated that COX-II and PLA2 were strongly down-regulated by treatment with bee venom and melittin whereas iNOS was almostly not expressed by bee venom treatment and slightly expressed by melittin treatment. 7. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that iNOS were strongly down-regulated by treatment with bee venom and melittin whereas COX-II was almostly not expressed by bee venom treatment and slightly expressed by melittin treatment. 8. Western blot demonstrated that iNOS were strongly down-regulated by treatment with $15{\mu}g/ml$ bee venom whereas COX-II was strongly down-regulated from $5{\mu}g/ml$ bee venom. Conclusions : These results suggest that bee venom and melittin have significant effect on cell death in synovial cell line and further study is needed in vivo.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.183-193
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• 2018

Objectives : In Traditional Korean Medicine, Epimedium koreanum Nakai has diverse pharmacological activities to treat impotence, forgetfulness, cataract and exophthalmos. Present study investigated anti-fibrogenic effects of E. koreanum water extract (EKE) in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Methods : To study anti-fibrogenic effects of EKE, LX-2 cells, a human immortalized HSCs, were pre-treated with $3-300{\mu}g/mL$ of EKE, and then subsequently exposed to 5 ng/mL of transforming growth $factor-{\beta}1$ ($TGF-{\beta}1$). Expression level of ${\alpha}-smooth$ muscle actin was determined by immunoblot analysis. Phosphorylation of Smad, transactivation of Smad, and expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) were monitored to investigate the effect of EKE on $TGF-{\beta}1-mediated$ signaling pathway. Results : Up to $100{\mu}g/mL$, EKE did not show any cytotoxicity on LX-2 cells. Pre-treatment of EKE ($100{\mu}g/mL$) significantly inhibited ${\alpha}-smooth$ muscle actin expression induced by $TGF-{\beta}1$. In addition, EKE significantly decreased Smad2 and Smad3 phosphorylations, Smad binding element-driven luciferase activity and PAI-1 expression by $TGF-{\beta}1$. Of three flavonoid compounds found in EKE, only quercertin ($30{\mu}M$) attenuated $TGF-{\beta}1-mediated$ PAI-1 expression. Conclusion : These results suggest that EKE has an ability to suppress fibrogenic process in HSCs via inhibition of $TGF-{\beta}1/Smad$ signaling pathway.