• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.857-863
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• 2006

Purpose : To evaluate the immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine among very low birth weight infants(VLBWI) who were vaccinated at 0, 1, 6 months of chronological age and to determine the factors associated with antibody formations. Methods : A total of 243 VLBWI admitted to Seoul and Gangneung Asan Medical Center neonatal intensive care units from 1997 to 2004 were included. Of 243, 13 infants were born to HBs Ag positive mother. All infants were given DNA recombinant vaccine at 0, 1, and 6 months of chronological age. Infants born to HBs Ag positive mothers received hepatitis B immunoglobulin at birth and a total of 4 doses of vaccinations. An antibody level over 10 mIU/mL, tested at 3-4 months after last vaccination, was regarded as a positive seroconversion. Results : The seroconversion rates were 84.4 percent and 84.5 percent for VLBWI and extremely low birth weight infants(ELBWI), respectively. Of 28 seronegative infants who were given revaccinations, 60.7 percent seroconverted, resulting in 95.3 percent, 97.5 percent seroconversion rates for VLBWI and ELBWI, respectively. 76.9 percent of infants born to HBsAg positive mothers seroconverted and none became hepatitis B carriers. Factors such as gestational age, sex, various neonatal illness, and kinds of vaccinations did not influence the formation of the hepatits B antibody, however, the higher the weight at time of first vacciation yielded better seroconversion rate. Conclusion : Revaccination of seronegative VLBWI after 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccinaton is very effective. Therefore, testing the immune status after the hepatitis B vaccination, a practice not routinely done, is highly recommended.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1637-1643
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• 2011

Korean native chickens are a very valuable chicken population in Korea and their prices are higher than that of commercial broilers. In order to discriminate two commercial Korean native chicken populations (CCP1 and CCP2), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from mitochondrial (mt) DNA D-loop sequences and LEI0258 marker polymorphisms in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region were investigated. A total of 718 birds from nine populations were sampled and 432 mtDNA sequences were obtained. Of these, two commercial Korean native chicken populations (363 birds) were used for investigation of their genetic relationship and breed differentiation. The sequence data classified the chickens into 20 clades, with the largest number of birds represented in clade 1. Analysis of the clade distribution indicated the genetic diversity and relation among the populations. Based on the mtDNA sequence analysis, three selected SNPs from mtDNA polymorphisms were used for the breed identification. The combination of identification probability (Pi) between CCP1 and CCP2 using SNPs from mtDNA and LEI0258 marker polymorphisms was 86.9% and 86.1%, respectively, indicating the utility of these markers for breed identification. The results will be applicable in designing breeding and conservation strategies for the Korean native chicken populations and also used for the development of breed identification markers.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.155-162
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• 2011

Background: Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) recognizes double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and induces inflammation. In this study we attempted to ascertain if there are endogenous host molecules controlling the production of cytokines and chemokines. Two candidates, ribosomal protein L19 and L22, were analyzed to determine if they influence cytokine production followed by TLR3 activation. In this study we report that L19 acts upon production of IP-10 or IL-8 differently in glioblastoma cells. Methods: L19 or L22 was transfected into HEK293-TLR3, A549 or A172 cells. After treatment with several inhibitors of NF-${\kappa}B$, PI3K, p38 or ERK, production of IL-8 or IP-10 was measured by ELISA. siRNA was introduced to suppress expression of L19. After Vesicular stomatitis virus infection, viral multiplication was measured by western blot. Results: L19 increased ERK activation to produce IL-8. In A172 cells, in which TLR3 is expressed at endosomes, L19 inhibited interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) activation and IP-10 production to facilitate viral multiplication, whereas L19 inhibited viral multiplication in A549 cells bearing TLR3 on their cell membrane. Conclusion: Our results suggest that L19 regulates TLR3 signaling, which is cell type specific and may be involved in pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory diseases.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2007

Autoimmune arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is a chronic inflammatory disorder that primarily affects the joints and then results in their progressive destruction. Effector Th cells have been classified as Th1 and Th2 subsets based on their cytokine expression profiles and immune regulatory function. Another subset of T cells termed Th17 was recendy discovered and known to selectively produce IL-17. Also, Th17 was shown to be generated by TGF${\beta}$ and IL-6 and maintained by IL-23. IL-17 is a proinflammatory cytokine that is considered to involve the development of various inflammatory autoimmune diseases such as RA, asthma, lupus, and allograft rejection. IL-17 is present in the sera, synovial fluids and synovial biopsies of most RA patient. IL-17 activates RA synovial fibroblasts to synthesize IL-6, IL-8 and VEGF via PI3K/Akt and NF-${\kappa}B$ dependent pathway. IL-17 increases IL-6 production, collagen destruction and collagen synthesis. In addition, it not only causes bone resorption but also increases osteoclastogenesis and fetal cartilage destruction. Inhibition of the IL-17 production may contribute a novel therapeutic approach along with potent anti-inflammatory effect and with less immunosuppressive effect on host defenses.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.218-227
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• 2018

In this study, we investigated the effect of the extracts from Vaccinium oldhamii on cell proliferation and the regulatory mechanisms of cyclin D1 protein level in human cancer cells. The branch extracts from Vaccinium oldhamii (VOB) showed higher inhibitor effect against the cell growth than leave extracts (VOL) and fruit extracts (VOF) in human colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, non-small lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and liver cancer cells. In addition, VOB decreased cyclin D1 level at both protein and mRNA level. MG132 treatment attenuated VOB-mediated cyclin D1 downregulation. A point mutation of threonine-286 to alanine attenuated cyclin D1 degradation by VOB. In addition, the inhibition of nuclear export by leptomycin B (LMB) attenuated cyclin D1 degradation by VOB. But, the treatment of PD98059 (ERK1/2 inhibitor), SB203580 (p38 inhibitor), SP600125 (JNK inhibitor), LiCl ($GSK3{\beta}$ inhibitor), LY294002 (PI3K inhibitor) or BAY 11-7082 ($I{\kappa}K$ inhibitor) did not affect VOB-induced cyclin D1 degradation. In conclusion, VOB induced cyclin D1 degradation through redistribution of cyclin D1 from the nucleus to cytoplasm via T286 phosphorylation of cyclin D1, which resulted in the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2007-2016
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• 2005

An artificial neural network (ANN) is successfully presented for prediction acidity constant (pKa) of various benzoic acids and phenols with diverse chemical structures using a nonlinear quantitative structure-property relationship. A three-layered feed forward ANN with back-propagation of error was generated using six molecular descriptors appearing in the multi-parameter linear regression (MLR) model. The polarizability term $(\pi_1)$, most positive charge of acidic hydrogen atom $(q^+)$, molecular weight (MW), most negative charge of the acidic oxygen atom $(q^-)$, the hydrogen-bond accepting ability $(\epsilon_B)$ and partial charge weighted topological electronic (PCWTE) descriptors are inputs and its output is pKa. It was found that properly selected and trained neural network with 205 compounds could fairly represent dependence of the acidity constant on molecular descriptors. For evaluation of the predictive power of the generated ANN, an optimized network was applied for prediction pKa values of 37 compounds in the prediction set, which were not used in the optimization procedure. Squared correlation coefficient $(R^2)$ and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.9147 and 0.9388 for prediction set by the MLR model should be compared with the values of 0.9939 and 0.2575 by the ANN model. These improvements are due to the fact that acidity constant of benzoic acids and phenols in water shows nonlinear correlations with the molecular descriptors.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1577-1582
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• 2013

The effects of dietary supplementation of selenium (Se), iodine (I), and a combination of both on the blood haematology, serum free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) hormones and glutathione peroxidase enzyme (GSH-Px) activity were examined on twenty four (7 to 8 months old, $22{\pm}1.17$ kg live weight) Kacang crossbred male goats. Animals were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments (6 animals in each group). Throughout 100 d of feeding trial, the animals of control group (CON) received a basal diet, while the other three groups were offered basal diet supplemented with 0.6 mg/kg diet DM Se (SS), or 0.6 mg/kg diet DM I (PI), or a combination of both Se and I, each at 0.6 mg/kg diet DM (SSPI). The haematological attributes which are haemoglobin (Hb), red blood cell (RBC), packed cell volume (PCV), mean cell volume (MCV), white blood cells (WBC), band neutrophils (B Neut), segmented neutrophils (S Neut), lymphocytes (Lymph), monocytes (Mono), eosinophils (Eosin) and basophils (Baso) were similar among the four treatment groups, while serum levels of Se and I increased significantly (p<0.05) in the supplemented groups. The combined dietary supplementation of Se and I (SSPI) significantly increased serum FT3 in the supplemented animals. Serum GSH-Px activity increased significantly in the animals of SS and SSPI groups. It is concluded that the dietary supplementation of inorganic Se and I at a level of 0.6 mg/kg DM increased serum Se and I concentration, FT3 hormone and GSH-Px activity of Kacang crossbred male goats.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.165-174
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• 1999

To investigate viral pathogenesis and in vivo efficacy of acyclovir (ACV) in mouse HSV-1 encephalitis models, female BALB/c mice aged 5 weeks were inoculated with strain F either intranasally (IN) or intracerebrally (IC). ACV-treatment by intraperitomeal injection with 0, 5, 10 and 25 mg/kg b.i.d. for 6 days was commenced 1 h after infection. Body weight and signs of clinical disease were noted daily up to 2 weeks. $ED_{50}$ of ACV in IN infection was <5 mg/kg and 14.1 mg/kg in IC infection. Tissues of central nervous system were collected from 2 mice per group everyday up to 5 day p.i. and the virus titers were measured. In IN infection model, high titers in eyes and trigeminal nerves were observed. ACV-treatment showed significant reduction of the titers in all the isolated. In IC infection model, cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem showed high virus titers. ACV-treatment showed less significant reduction of virus titers than that in IN infection model. Reactivation of explanted trigeminal nerves from mice 30 day p.i. was monitored. In all of ACV treated mice reactivation was observed, i.e. even the highest dose of ACV did not inhibit the establishment of viral latency.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.517-524
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• 2015

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used in cell-based therapy to promote revascularization after peripheral or myocardial ischemia. High levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in the senescence and apoptosis of MSCs, causing defective neovascularization. Here, we examined the effect of the natural antioxidant lycopene on oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in MSCs. Although $H_2O_2$ ($200{\mu}M$) increased intracellular ROS levels in human MSCs, lycopene ($10{\mu}M$) pretreatment suppressed $H_2O_2$-induced ROS generation and increased survival. $H_2O_2$-induced ROS increased the levels of phosphorylated p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK), Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK), ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), and p53, which were inhibited by lycopene pretreatment. Furthermore, lycopene pretreatment decreased the expression of cleaved poly (ADP ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and caspase-3 and increased the expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), which were induced by $H_2O_2$ treatment. Moreover, lycopene significantly increased manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) expression and decreased cellular ROS levels via the PI3K-Akt pathway. Our findings show that lycopene pretreatment prevents ischemic injury by suppressing apoptosis-associated signal pathway and enhancing anti-oxidant protein, suggesting that lycopene could be developed as a beneficial broad-spectrum agent for the successful MSC transplantation in ischemic diseases.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.131-135
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• 2008

A cDNA encoding a defensin-like peptide (Protaetiamycine) from the larvae of a beetle, Protaetia brevitarsis was cloned. The DNAs encoded the deduced propeptide of 79 amino acid residues with the predicted molecular weight of 8.4 kDa and PI of 8.24. Overall amino acid sequence of this protein has 39% similarity to that of Rhodnius prolixus defensin, 43% similarity to that of Acalolepta luxuriosa defensin, and 72% similarity to that of Oryctes rhinoceros defensin, suggesting that this gene is an insect defensin. In an attempt to apply the anti-bacterial peptide to the development of therapeutic agents, a 12-mer peptide amidated at its C-terminus, ACAAHCLAIGRG-$NH_2$ (Ala55-Lys66-$NH_2$, 12Pbn) was synthesized. This peptide showed some antifungal activity against Candida albicans. To increase antifungal activity, six 9-mer peptides were synthesized by modifying amino acid sequences of 12Pbn fragment. Among these peptides, 9Pbm3-9Pbm6 exhibited strong activity compared with Cecropin B and mellitin.