• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.230-233
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• 2007

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) acts as a negative regulator of insulin signaling, and selective inhibition of PTP1B has served as a potential drug target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. As part of our searching for PTP1B inhibitors from natural products, the extracts of marine microorganisms were screened for the inhibitory effects on the activity of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B). Among the tested 304 extracts, 29 extracts exhibited inhibition rate ranging 40.1 - 83.6 % against PTP1B at the concentration level of $30{\mu}g/mL$.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.67-73
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• 2014

Objectives : Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a selective death of motor neuron, leading to respiratory insufficiency. The purpose of this study was to assess the long term respiratory management of ALS patient with respiratory failure. Methods : One ALS patient applying a non-invasive BIPAP ventilator as well as Korean medical treatment such as acupuncture, pharmacopuncture and herbal medicine was measured on $SpO_2$, $EtCO_2$, Vte(expiratorytidalvolume) for 2 years 7 months. Results : The $SpO_2$, $EtCO_2$ of ALS patient were maintained in the normal range for 2 years 7 months. The Vte of ALS patient also wasn't worse in this study. Conclusions : In this study, the long term respiration management, combined administration of Korean medical treatment and non-invasive BIPAP ventilator, could be effective in ALS patient with respiratory failure.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.605-612
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• 2014

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoan parasite that causes a Th1 cellular immunity. Our previous study showed that T. gondii lysate antigen (TLA) treatment in S180 tumor-bearing mice resulted in tumor reduction by suppressing CD31 expression, a marker of angiogenesis. In the present study, to investigate tumor suppressive effect of TLA under the absence of T lymphocytes, athymic nude mice were compared with euthymic mice in the anti-tumorigenic effect triggered by TLA in CT26 tumors. According to the results, intratumorally injected TLA reduced tumor growth and TIMP-1 level, a metastatic marker, in both euthymic and athymic mice. TLA treatment led to a sharp increase in IL-12 expression in serum cytokine profiling of athymic mice, and increased MyD88 signals in macrophages derived from the bone marrow, implying the activation of innate immunity. The selective induction of IL-12 by TLA treatment had an anti-tumorigenic effect.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2024

Background: Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is a significant concern, particularly among patients taking bisphosphonates (BPs), denosumab, and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) for osteoporosis. Despite the known risks, large-scale cohort studies examining the incidence and severity of MRONJ are lacking. We aimed to ascertain the incidence and risk of MRONJ among these patients, whom we stratified by age groups, medication types, and duration of use. Methods: We utilized data from the National Health Insurance Service's sample cohort database, focusing on patients aged 40 years and above diagnosed with osteoporosis. The patients were divided into three groups: those prescribed BPs only, those prescribed SERMs only, and those prescribed both. Results: The overall incidence rate of MRONJ was 0.17%. A significantly higher incidence rate was observed among those taking osteoporosis medications, particularly among females with a relative risk of 4.99 (95% confidence interval, 3.21-7.74). The SERM group also had an incidence rate comparable to that of the BP group. Severity was assessed based on the invasiveness of the treatment methods, with 71.3% undergoing invasive treatment in the medication group. Conclusion: This study provides valuable insights into the incidence and severity of MRONJ among a large cohort of patients with osteoporosis. It underscores the need for comprehensive guidance on MRONJ risks across different medication groups and sets the stage for future research focusing on specific populations and treatment outcomes.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.896-901
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• 1998

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation(PAVM) is an uncommon congenital anomaly. As pulmonary arteriovenous malformation is a direct communication between the branches of pulmonary artery and vein which originated from the malformation of capillary development, major disturbances in gas exchange can result. This malformation results in the several symptoms such as dyspnea, hemopyssis, cyanosis, and severe neurologic complaints. However, the most of patients are usually asymptomatic. Selective pulmonary angiography is well known the helpful diagnostic method. Recently, therapeutic embolization has been advocated as the treatment of choice for pulmonary arteriovenous malformations. We report a case of multiple pulmonary arteriovenous malformation, which was detected on the simple chest X-ray and successfully treated with coil embolization in a 19-year-old asymptomatic woman.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2019

Objective: South Korea made a list of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) for elderly patients in 2015 and has prompted medical professionals to prescribe proper medication by using the drug utilization review (DUR) system. It has been three years since the system was introduced, but related studies have rarely been conducted. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the DUR system on the prescription of PIMs for elderly patients. Methods: The data on the prescription of PIMs for elderly patients (${\geq}65$ years) who received medical treatment between March 1st and May 31st in 2015 (before introduction of the DUR system) and who received medical treatment between March 1st and May 31st in 2018 (after introduction of the DUR system) were retrospectively collected from electronic medical records. Results: The prescriptions of PIMs decreased from 3,716 (7.7%) to 3,857 (6.9%) (p < 0.001). The prescription of escitalopram and paroxetine, among selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, increased significantly, and that of short-acting benzodiazepines also increased significantly from 454 (0.93%) to 624 (1.2%). Conclusion: Prescription of PIMs for elderly patients significantly decreased (p < 0.001) after the DUR system was introduced. Further expanded studies of PIMs need to be conducted for the safety of elderly patients.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.145-252
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• 1987

Isolated rat adipocytes are well known to possess opposite pathways of lipid metabolism: lipolysis and ipogenesis. Both of the metabolism respond to various biologically active substances such as epinephrine, ACTH and insulin. Epinephrine and ACTH stimulate lipolysis and insulin accelerates lipogenesis. Recently, Korean red ginseng powder was found to contain adenosine and an acidic poptide which inhibited epinephrine-induced lipolysis and sl imulated insulin-mediated lipogenesis from added glucose. The acidic peptide is consisted mainly of glutamic acid and glucose. Ginsenosides Rb1 and Re inhibited ACTH-induced lipolysis in isolated rat adipocytes, while they did not affect insulinstimulated lipogenesis, Thus, all these substances extracted from Korean red ginseng exhibited selective modulations toward the opposite metabolic pathways in rat adipocyte; They inhibited the lipolysis but not the lipogenesis. We call these substances"selective modulators". Recently, we isolated a toxic substance named "toxohormone-L " from ascites fluid of patients with various malignant tumors. The toxohormone-L stimulated lipolysis in rat adipocytes and induced anorexia in rats. Both the lipolytic and the anorexigenic actions of toxohormone-L were found to be inhibited by ginsenoside Rb2 in Korean red ginseng. Based on these results, physiological signifi¬cances of these substances in Korean red ginseng were discussed. Pan ax ginseng is a medicinal plant long used in treatment of various pathological states including general complaints such as head ache, shoulder ache, chilly constitution and anorexia in cancer patients, There have been many pharmacological studies on Panax ginseng roots. Petkovllreported that oral administration of an aqueous alcoholic extract of ginseng roots decreased the blood sugar levtl of rabbits. Saito2lreported that Panax ginseng suppressed hyperglycemia induced by epinephrine and high carbohydrate diets. These findings suggest that Panax ginseng roots contain insulin-like substances. Previously, we demonstrated that gin¬seng roots contain an insulin-like peptide which inhibits epinephrine-induced lipolysis and stimulated insulin-mediated lipogenesis. In 1984, we suggested that such an insulin-like substance should be called a selective modulator4). Present investigation describes the details of the selective modulators in ginseng roots. During progressive weight loss in patients with various neoplastic disease, depletion of fat stores have been observed. The depletion of body fat during growth of neoplasms is associated with increase in plasma free fatty acids. Recently, we found that the ascites fluid from patients with hepatoma or ovarian tumor and the pleural fluid from patients with malignant lymphoma elicited fatty acid release in slices of rat adipose tissue in vitro. The lipolytic factor, named"toxohormone-L". was purifed from the ascites fluid of patients with hepatoma. The isolated preparation gave a single band on both disc gel electrophoresis and sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS)-acrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of ${\beta}$-mercaptoethanol. Its molecular weight was determined to be 70,000-75,000 and 65,000 by SDS-acrylamide gel electrophoresis and analytical ultracentrifugation, respectively. Injection of toxohormone-L into the lateral ventricle of rats significantly suppressed food and water intakes. There was at least 5 hr delay between its injection and appearance of its suppressive effect. In the present study, we also tried to find a inhibitory substance toward toxohormone-L from root powder of ginseng.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2017

Objective: The prevalence rate of osteoarthritis in Koreans aged 50 years or older is 14.3%, and the total amount of medical costs is more than KRW 1 trillion. Recently, the reimbursement guidelines for osteoarthritis treatment have changed. Methods: In this study, we sought to describe prescription patterns of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and gastro-protective agent (GPA) and analyze the clinical and economic impacts of the new policy using the national health insurance claims data. The incidence of upper gastrointestinal adverse event by policy change was identified through the odds ratio, and changes in medicine and medical costs related to osteoarthritis through mean and median. Results: There were 204,552 patients before the reimbursement guidelines relaxation and 239,710 after it, a 17.2% rise. The prescription ratio was 3.3% for the patients prescribed with COX-2 selective NSAIDs alone and 1.3% for those with both COX-2 selective NSAIDs and GPA combination before the reimbursement guidelines relaxation. The reimbursement guidelines relaxation significantly increased their ratios to 6.9% and 2.8%, respectively. Gastrointestinal adverse events significantly reduced by 1.21%p after reimbursement guidelines relaxation. The average medicine cost per person increased significantly to KRW 140,291 from KRW 137,323 after the reimbursement guidelines relaxation, while the average medical cost per person slightly decreased from KRW 311,605 to KRW 310,755 after the relaxation, showing no meaningful difference. Conclusion: The reimbursement guidelines relaxation may influence on decreasing the upper gastrointestinal adverse event, increasing the medicine costs and maintaining the medical costs for osteoarthritis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.449-454
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• 2023

Free-living amoebae (FLA) rarely cause human infections but can invoke fatal infections in the central nervous system (CNS). No consensus treatment has been established for FLA infections of the CNS, emphasizing the urgent need to discover or develop safe and effective drugs. Flavonoids, natural compounds from plants and plant-derived products, are known to have antiprotozoan activities against several pathogenic protozoa parasites. The anti-FLA activity of flavonoids has also been proposed, while their antiamoebic activity for FLA needs to be emperically determined. We herein evaluated the antiamoebic activities of 18 flavonoids against Naegleria fowleri and Acanthamoeba species which included A. castellanii and A. polyphaga. These flavonoids showed different profiles of antiamoebic activity against N. fowleri and Acanthamoeba species. Demethoxycurcumin, kaempferol, resveratrol, and silybin (A+B) showed in vitro antiamoebic activity against both N. fowleri and Acanthamoeba species. Apigenin, costunolide, (-)-epicatechin, (-)-epigallocatechin, rosmarinic acid, and (-)-trans-caryophyllene showed selective antiamoebic activity for Acanthamoeba species. Luteolin was more effective for N. fowleri. However, afzelin, berberine, (±)-catechin, chelerythrine, genistein, (+)-pinostrobin, and quercetin did not exhibit antiamoebic activity against the amoeba species. They neither showed selective antiamoebic activity with significant cytotoxicity to C6 glial cells. Our results provide a basis for the anti-FLA activity of flavonoids, which can be applied to develope alternative or supplemental therapeutic agents for FLA infections of the CNS.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.392-397
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• 2008

Recently, importance of immunosuppression is increasing as internal organ transplant becomes more prevalent with development of medical technology. Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is a selective inhibitor of guanine synthesis and it therefore has antibacterial, antiviral, antitumor and selective immunosuppressive activities. The objective of this study was to maximize MPA productivity through utilizing the MPA generating strain of Penicillium brevicompactum ATCC 16024, by inducing UV mutation and NTG mutation. The highest MPA obtained was 1.146 g/L, 2.051 g/L, and 1.390 g/L from P. brevicompactum UB-3, UB-9, UC-4 respectively mutants derived from UV treatment. P. brevicompactum NC-3 and NA-9 induced from NTG treatment yielded. 575 g/L, 2.238 g/L of MPA production respectively. Mutants capable of the highest observed production of MPA were P. brevicompactum UB-9 and P. brevicompactum NC-3 obtained using the UV and NTG treatments respectively.