• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

Inefficiency of in vivo gene transfer using currently available vectors reflects a major hurdle in cancer gene therapy. Both viral and non-viral approaches have been described to improve gene transfer efficiency but suffer from a number of limitations. Here we tested an adenovirus carrying the small peptide ligand derived from heregulin${\beta}$ EGF-like domain onto fiber, the adenoviral capsid protein, to deliver transgene to ovarian cancer cells which overexpress ErbB, the cognate receptors for heregulin. The attachement of 53 amino acids to fiber didn't affect on the fiber's trimer structure that is critical for the viral entry to cells. The fiber-modified adenovirus can mediate entry and expression of a ${\beta}$-galactosidase into cancer cells in an increased efficiency compared the unmodified adenovirus. Particularly, the gene transfer efficiency was improved up to 5 times in OVCAR3 cells, an ovarian cancer cell line. Such transduction systems hold promise for delivering genes to ErbB receptor overexpressing cancer cells, and could be used for future cancer gene therapy.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.205-212
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• 2001

One of the important characteristics of biological systems os their ability to change im-portant properties in response to small environmental signals. The molecular mechanisms that biological molecules utilize to sense and respond provide interesting models for the development of "smart" polymeric biomaterials with biomimetic properties. An important example of this is the protein coat of viruses, which contains peptide units that facilitate the trafficking of the virus into the cell via endocytosis, then out of the endosome into the cytoplasm, and from there into the nucleus, We have designed a family of synthetic polymers whose compositions have been de-signed to mimic specific peptides on viral coats that facilitate endosomal escape. Our biomimetic polymers are responsive to the lowered pH whinin endosomes, leading to distruption of the en-dosomal membrane and release of important biomolecular druges such as DNA, RNA, peptides and proteins to the cytoplasm before they are trafficked to lysosomes and degraded by lysosomal en-zymes. In this article, we review our work on the design, synthesis and action of such smart, pH-sensitive polymers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1619-1619
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• 2001

Ourwork aims to assess the content of dry matter, protein, cell wall parameters and water soluble carbohydrates in forages without having to handle samples, transport them to a laboratory, dry, grind and chemically analyze them. for this purpose, the concept of fresh forage analysis under field conditions by means of compact integrated NIRS InGaAs-diode array instruments on small plot harvesters is being evaluated for plant breeding trials. This work was performed with the world first commercial experimental forage plot harvester equipped with a NIRS module for the collection, compression, and scanning of forage samples (including automatic referencing and dark current measure ments). It was used for harvesting and analyzing a number of typical forage grass and forage legume plot trials. After NIRS measurements in the field each sample was again analyzed in the laboratory by means of a conventional grating spectrometer equipped with Si-and PbS-detectors. Conventional laboratory analysis of the samples was restricted to dry matter (DM) content by means of oven drying at 105. Routine chemometric procedures were then employed to assess the comparative accuracy and precision of the DM assessments in the spectral range between 950 and 1650nm by the NIRS diode array as well as by the conventional NIRS scanning instrument. The results of this study confirmed that the type of NIRS diode array instrument employed here functioned well even in rugged field operations. further refinements proved to be necessary for optimizing the automatic filling of the sample compartment to adjust for the wide variation in forage material under conditions of extremely low or high harvest yields. The error achieved in calibrating the apparatus for forages of typical DM content proved to be satisfactory (SECV < 1.0). Possibly as a consequence of higher sampling errors, its performance in atypical forages with elevated DM contents was less satisfactory. The error level obtained on the conventional grating NIR spectrometer was similar to that of the diode array instrument for both types of forage.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.155-161
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• 1992

Although glycosylated liposomes have attracted much attention as targeting delivery systems (DDS) of drugs to specific organs which have glycoside receptors, physical instability of liposomes greatly limits their practical application. In this case, proliposomes might be a potential answer to solve this problem. Utilizing the proliposomes as tageting DDS has been a goal of our series of works; we have tried to develop DDS which form liposomes uppon adding water and can deliver drugs to specific target organs/cells such as hepatocytes. In this paper, preparation of glycosylated liposomes and binding of the liposomes with lectin (agglutinin RCA 120) was studied. Asialoletuin (AF) was selected as a model compound which has galactose terminal and is favorable for binding with galactose receptor on the surface of hepatocytes. AF was obtained by splitting the terminal N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) of fetuin. Small unilamellar AF-liposomes were prepared by mixing aqueous solution of AF-palmitate with thin film of phosphatidyl choline and cholesterol (30:10 w/w) formed on the innersurface of the round bottomed flask. They were successively extruded through polycarbonate membranes (0.45 mm). Palmitoyl-AF not incorporated into the liposomal bilayer was separated from liposomes by a Sepharose 4B column equilibrated with 10 mM Tris-HCI buffered saline. Lectin (agglutinin RCA 120) was added to the suspension of AF-liposomes and incubated at $37^{\circ}C$ for 2 hr. After centrifugation, the unbound lectin in the supernatant was assayed for protein. The binding of the lectin to AF-liposomes (AF content 2.8 nmole) at $37^{\circ}C$ was linear at least upto 35 mg of lectin indicating high affinity association of the lectin to AF molecules of the liposomes.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.28-35
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• 1976

To know changes of the food preferences and the practice of pica during pregnancy, ninety two women in the latter half of pregnancy were interviewed in April, 1976 at ten medical centers in Seoul. They were average 27.1 years old, and mostly middle class. 83.7% of the total subjects felt the changes of food preferences due to pregnancy within the first trimester. 60.9% had vomiting as well as losing their appetite and 17.3% vomited three or more times daily which might induce difficulties of water and electrolytes balance in body. The preferences about foods, the taste of foods, and various dishes cooked during morning sickness were changed significantly and showed in lower scores of likes and higher scores of dislikes than those before pregnancy. Particularly, cooked rice and kimchi indicated the increase of more than 50% in dislikes. The preferences after the morning sickness were turned back to those before pregnancy. Desire for water through foods like soft drinks, juice, ice cream, and gamju and salty foods seemed to be spontaneous during pregnancy. A majority of the subjects had three meals and no snack had included more snacks instead of meals during losing appetite and thereafter, had more frequent meals and snacks. Superstitions about chicken, squid, and cuttlefish for pregnant women were prevalent. 11.9% tabooed chicken because of harm for fetus. On the contrary, intended higher inclusions of milk, meat and dried small sardines would be helpful to satisfy the increased recommended allowances of calcium and protein for them. The practice of pica was found in 5.4% and rice was the only real item mentioned. Pica such as amylophagia or geophagia often reported in the U.S. was not answered in this study.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2003

This study was conducted to investigate the nutritional knowledge, nutrients intake and the assessment of dietary behavior of old peoples living in Incheon area. Two hundred and three elderly were examined using the questionnaire. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1. The old people was lacking in correct information about nutrition and diseases. 2. The nutritional knowledge scores of old women were higher than those of old men and the scores went up according to the amount of pocket money. 3. The amount of vitamin C and phosphorus intakes were higher than those of the RDA, protein intake reached the level of the RDA. The vitamin B$_2$intake, however, was below 75% of the RDA and that of calcium was very low in women, especially. 4. Most of subjects had a meal regularly three times a day and the skipping rate of breakfast was very low. Dey had a moderate meal volume and did not have an unbalanced diet. Dey nearly do not take the processed food, dine out and exceed in the cholesterol intake. 5. They took green and yellow vegetables and, milk and milk products relatively small. On the other hand, the intake of caffein beverage was relatively high. the rates of drinking and smoking were low. From these results, we may propose the conclusion as follows: The old people were much concerned about the nutrition and diseases, but they had no correct informations about them. Therefore, the program of nutrition and dietary behavior for their healthy elderly life had to be prepared and to be applied to them immediately.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 2012

One of the biggest challenges for the animal feed industry in the coming years will be to meet the growing demand in animal protein in light of increased cost of feed ingredient as well as tougher restrictions on the use of antimicrobial growth promoters imposed by consumers and governments. A key focus area will be to maximise feed efficiency and minimise nutrient waste. It has been widely acknowledged that the composition of the intestinal microflora is closely related to intestinal health and performance of animals. Advanced microbial techniques have shown a close relationship between bacterial communities and their ability to modulate nutrient absorption and processing. In addition it has been recognised that modulating the immune response has significant impact on overall health as well as overall nutrient demand. Molecular techniques are a useful tool to gain an understanding of the impact of dietary interventions including the use of functional feed additives on specific changes in microbial communities or the immune system. Most these techniques however focus on the evaluation of large changes in bacterial compositions and often underestimate or neglect to recognise small changes in microbial diversity or behaviour changes without any measurable immune response. The key to understanding the relationship between specific nutritional intervention and the impact on health and performance lies in a deeper understanding of the impact of these nutrients on the expression of specific genes or specific metabolic pathways. The development of molecular tools as a result of developments in the field of Nutrigenomics has enabled researchers to study the effects of specific nutrients on the whole genome or in other words, the effect of thousands of genes simultaneously, and has opened a completely different avenue for nutritional research.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.107-113
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• 2004

Since the completion of the genome project of the nematode C. elegans in 1998, functional genomic approaches have been applied to elucidate the gene and protein networks in this model organism. The recent completion of the whole genome of C. briggsae, a close sister species of C. elegans, now makes it possible to employ the comparative genomic approaches for identifying regulatory mechanisms that are conserved in these species and to make more precise annotation of the predicted genes. RNA interference (RNAi) screenings in C. elegans have been performed to screen the whole genome for the genes whose mutations give rise to specific phenotypes of interest. RNAi screens can also be used to identify genes that act genetically together with a gene of interest. Microarray experiments have been very useful in identifying genes that exhibit co-regulated expression profiles in given genetic or environmental conditions. Proteomic approaches also can be applied to the nematode, just as in other species whose genomes are known. With all these functional genomic tools, genetics will still remain an important tool for gene function studies in the post genome era. New breakthroughs in C. elegans biology, such as establishing a feasible gene knockout method, immortalized cell lines, or identifying viruses that can be used as vectors for introducing exogenous gene constructs into the worms, will augment the usage of this small organism for genome-wide biology.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.317-321
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• 2014

Amyloid-${\beta}$ protein ($A{\beta}$) is a pathological component of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by participating in the senile plaque formation in the patient's brain. Although the exact mechanism of $A{\beta}$ toxicity is not fully elucidated, it is considered to be closely related to its fibrillation process. For prevention of AD, recent studies have suggested various small molecules which inhibit $A{\beta}$ fibrillation. In this report, ${\beta}$-asarone found in acorus plant has been investigated as an anti-amyloid molecule. ${\beta}$-Asarone was demonstrated to prevent in vitro fibrillation of $A{\beta}$ by inducing the oligomer formation that obviously decreased cytotoxicity. Therefore, ${\beta}$-asarone could be suggested as an inhibitory agent of $A{\beta}$ fibrillation and toxicity, which would help us not only to understand underlying principle of amyloidogenesis mechanism but also to develop a controlling strategy toward AD.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.212-224
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• 2013

This study intends to clarify how Sayeok-tang(here in after reffered to SYT) affect C57BL/10 mice whose osteoarthritis was induced by papain. Osteoarthritis was induced by injecting papain in the knee joint of 3 groups(n=6) of mice. Normal group was non-treatment group and was not injected papain, whereas control mice were orally administered with $200{\mu}{\ell}$ of physiological saline. Positive comparison group was medicated with 100 mg/kg of Joins$^{(R)}$ mixed with $200{\mu}{\ell}$ of physiological saline. Experimental group was medicated with 400 mg/kg of SYT mixed with $200{\mu}{\ell}$ of physiological saline. Both Positive and experimental comparison groups were orally medicated once per day for 4 weeks. After the experiment, the functions of liver and kidney, inflammation cytokine values within serum, degree of revelation for inflammation cytokine genes, immune cells within blood, metabolism of arachidonic acid and amount of cartilage were measured and histopathological changes in the knee joint structures were observed. As results, SYT had no significant effect on the liver and kidney functions. Interleukin-$1{\beta}$(IL-$1{\beta}$), interleukin-6(IL-6), monocyte chemo attractant protein-1(MCP-1) and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$(TNF-${\alpha}$) were significantly decreased. Inflammation cytokines in joints were all significantly decreased. Prostaglandin $E_2(PGE_2)$, thromboxane $B_2(TXB_2)$ were significantly decreased. Destruction of cartilage on micro computed tomography(CT)-arthrography was meaningfully decreased. In terms of histopathology, infiltration of inflammation, proliferation of synovial membrane, subsidence of cartilage and bone due to penetration of excessive formation of synovial cell and destruction of cartilage were small. Based on all results mentioned above, Sayeok-tang(SYT) is believed to be meaningful for suppressing the progress of osteoarthritis and its treatments because of its anti-inflammatory effects and alleviation of pain with histopathological effective efficacy.