• 보건행정학회지
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.49-76
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• 2006

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of a computerized review program which was introduced in August 1, 2003, using claims data for acute respiratory infection related diseases. National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data on respiratory infection related diseases before and after the introduction, with six month intervals respectively, were used for the analysis. Clinic was the unit of observation, and clinics with only one physician whose specialty was internal medicine, pediatrics, otorhinolaryngology and family medicine and clinics with a general practitioner were selected. The final sample had 7,637 clinics in total. Indices used to measure practice pattern was prescription rates of antibiotics, prescription rates of injection drug per visit, treatment costs per claim, and total costs per claim. Changes in the number of claims for major disease categories and upcoding index for disease categories were used to measure claiming behavior. Data were analysed using descriptive analysis, t-test for indices changes before and after the introduction, analysis of variance (ANOVA) for practice pattern change for major disease categories, and multiple regression analysis to identify whether new system influenced on provider' practice patterns or not. Prescription of antibiotics, prescription rates of injection drug, treatment costs per claim, and total costs per claim decreased significantly. Results from multiple regression analysis showed that a computerized review system had effects on all the indices measuring behavior. Introduction of the new system had the spillover effects on the provider's behavior in the related disease categories in addition to the effects in the target diseases, but the magnitude of the effects were bigger among the target diseases. Rates of claims for computerized review over total claims for respiratory diseases significantly decreased after the introduction of a computerized review system and rates of claims for non target diseases increased, which was also statistically significant. Distribution of the number of claims by disease categories after the introduction of a computerized review system changed so as to increase the costs per claims. Analysis of upcoding index showed index for 'other acute lower respiratory infection (J20-22)', which was included in the review target, decreased and 'otitis media (H65, H66)', which was not included in the review target, increase. Factors affecting provider's practice patterns should be taken into consideration when policies on claims review method and behavior changes. It is critical to include strategies to decrease the variations among providers.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.21.1-21.21
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• 2022

As far the current severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), respiratory disease is still the biggest threat to human health. In addition, infectious respiratory diseases are particularly prominent. In addition to killing and clearing the infection pathogen directly, regulating the immune responses against the pathogens is also an important therapeutic modality. Sirtuins belong to NAD+-dependent class III histone deacetylases. Among 7 types of sirtuins, silent information regulator type-1 (SIRT1) played a multitasking role in modulating a wide range of physiological processes, including oxidative stress, inflammation, cell apoptosis, autophagy, antibacterial and antiviral functions. It showed a critical effect in regulating immune responses by deacetylation modification, especially through high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a core molecule regulating the immune system. SIRT1 was associated with many respiratory diseases, including COVID-19 infection, bacterial pneumonia, tuberculosis, and so on. Here, we reviewed the latest research progress regarding the effects of SIRT1 on immune system in respiratory diseases. First, the structure and catalytic characteristics of SIRT1 were introduced. Next, the roles of SIRT1, and the mechanisms underlying the immune regulatory effect through HMGB1, as well as the specific activators/inhibitors of SIRT1, were elaborated. Finally, the multitasking roles of SIRT1 in several respiratory diseases were discussed separately. Taken together, this review implied that SIRT1 could serve as a promising specific therapeutic target for the treatment of respiratory diseases.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.241-254
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• 2016

Environmental microbes like Bordetella petrii has been established as a causative agent for various infectious diseases in human. Again, development of drug resistance in B. petrii challenged to combat against the infection. Identification of potential drug target and proposing a novel lead compound against the pathogen has a great aid and value. In this study, bioinformatics tools and technology have been applied to suggest a potential drug target by screening the proteome information of B. petrii DSM 12804 (accession No. PRJNA28135) from genome database of National Centre for Biotechnology information. In this regards, the inhibitory effect of nine natural compounds like ajoene (Allium sativum), allicin (A. sativum), cinnamaldehyde (Cinnamomum cassia), curcumin (Curcuma longa), gallotannin (active component of green tea and red wine), isoorientin (Anthopterus wardii), isovitexin (A. wardii), neral (Melissa officinalis), and vitexin (A. wardii) have been acknowledged with anti-bacterial properties and hence tested against identified drug target of B. petrii by implicating computational approach. The in silico studies revealed the hypothesis that lpxD could be a potential drug target and with recommendation of a strong inhibitory effect of selected natural compounds against infection caused due to B. petrii, would be further validated through in vitro experiments.

• 한국응용약물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국응용약물학회 2008년도 Proceedings of the Convention
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• pp.23-30
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• 2008

Mitochondria biogenesis requires a coordination of two genomes, nuclear DNA (nDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Disruption of mitochondria function leads to a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP generating capacity and consequently results in chronic degenerative diseases including insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and neurodegenerative diseases. Although PPAR-${\gamma}$ coactivator-$1{\alpha}$ (PGC-$1{\alpha}$) was discovered as a central regulator of mitochondria biogenesis and a transcriptional co-activator of nuclear respiratory factor (NRF) and mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam), the expressions of PGC-$1{\alpha}$, NRF and Tfam were not significantly altered in tissues showing abnormal mitochondria functions. This observation suggests that there should be another regulator(s) for mitochondria function. Here, we demonstrate microRNAs (miRNAs) can modulate mitochondria function. Overexpression of microRNA dissipated mitochondrial membrane potential and increased ROS production in vitro and in vivo. It will be discussed the target of microRNA and its role in metabolic syndrome.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제40권12호
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• pp.916-924
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• 2017

MicroRNAs are widely involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases through regulating gene expression via translational inhibition or degradation of their target mRNAs. Recent studies have indicated a critical role of microRNA-206 in myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, the function of miR-206 in myocardial I/R injury is currently unclear. The present study was aimed to identify the specific role of miR-206 in myocardial I/R injury and explore the underlying molecular mechanism. Our results revealed that the expression level of miR-206 was significantly decreased both in rat I/R group and H9c2 cells subjected to hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) compared with the corresponding control. Overexpression of miR-206 observably decreased infarct size and inhibited the cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by I/R injury. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis, luciferase activity and western blot assay proved that $Gadd45{\beta}$ (growth arrest DNA damage-inducible gene $45{\beta}$) was a direct target gene of miR-206. In addition, the expression of pro-apoptotic-related genes, such as p53, Bax and cleaved caspase3, was decreased in association with the down-regulation of $Gadd45{\beta}$. In summary, this study demonstrates that miR-206 could protect against myocardial I/R injury by targeting $Gadd45{\beta}$.

• 통합자연과학논문집
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.164-175
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• 2015

CXCR3 is a C-X-C chemokine receptor type 3 also known as GPR9 and CD183. CXCR3 is a G-Protein coupled chemokine receptor which interacts with three endogenous interferon inducible chemokine's (CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11) and is proved to play a vital role in the Th1 inflammatory responses. CXCR3 has been implicated to be associated with various disease conditions like inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, type I diabetes and acute cardiac allograft rejection. Therefore CXCR3 receptor is found to be an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Inorder to decipher the biological function of a CXCR3, 3D structure is of much important but the crystal structure for CXCR3 has not yet been resolved. Hence, in the current study Homology modeling of CXCR3 was performed against various templates and validated using different parameters to suggest the best model for CXCR3. The reported best model can be used for further studies such as docking to identify the important binding site residues.

• 산업경영시스템학회지
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• 제44권3호
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• pp.33-38
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• 2021

Recently, transfer learning techniques with a base convolutional neural network (CNN) model have widely gained acceptance in early detection and classification of crop diseases to increase agricultural productivity with reducing disease spread. The transfer learning techniques based classifiers generally achieve over 90% of classification accuracy for crop diseases using dataset of crop leaf images (e.g., PlantVillage dataset), but they have ability to classify only the pre-trained diseases. This paper provides with an evaluation scheme on selecting an effective base CNN model for crop disease transfer learning with regard to the accuracy of trained target crops as well as of untrained target crops. First, we present transfer learning models called CDC (crop disease classification) architecture including widely used base (pre-trained) CNN models. We evaluate each performance of seven base CNN models for four untrained crops. The results of performance evaluation show that the DenseNet201 is one of the best base CNN models.

• BMB Reports
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• 제55권6호
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• pp.251-258
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• 2022

Innovative genome editing techniques developed in recent decades have revolutionized the biomedical research field. Liver is the most favored target organ for genome editing owing to its ability to regenerate. The regenerative capacity of the liver enables ex vivo gene editing in which the mutated gene in hepatocytes isolated from the animal model of genetic disease is repaired. The edited hepatocytes are injected back into the animal to mitigate the disease. Furthermore, the liver is considered as the easiest target organ for gene editing as it absorbs almost all foreign molecules. The mRNA vaccines, which have been developed to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, have provided a novel gene editing strategy using Cas mRNA. A single injection of gene editing components with Cas mRNA is reported to be efficient in the treatment of patients with genetic liver diseases. In this review, we first discuss previously reported gene editing tools and cases managed using them, as well as liver diseases caused by genetic mutations. Next, we summarize the recent successes of ex vivo and in vivo gene editing approaches in ameliorating liver diseases in animals and humans.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제46권1호
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• pp.41-47
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• 2023

The rapid development of mRNA vaccines has contributed to the management of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, suggesting that this technology may be used to manage future outbreaks of infectious diseases. Because the antigens targeted by mRNA vaccines can be easily altered by simply changing the sequence present in the coding region of mRNA structures, it is more appropriate to develop vaccines, especially during rapidly developing outbreaks of infectious diseases. In addition to allowing rapid development, mRNA vaccines have great potential in inducing successful antigen-specific immunity by expressing target antigens in cells and simultaneously triggering immune responses. Indeed, the two COVID-19 mRNA vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have shown significant efficacy in preventing infections. The ability of mRNAs to produce target proteins that are defective in specific diseases has enabled the development of options to treat intractable diseases. Clinical applications of mRNA vaccines/therapeutics require strategies to safely deliver the RNA molecules into targeted cells. The present review summarizes current knowledge about mRNA vaccines/ therapeutics, their clinical applications, and their delivery strategies.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.157-167
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• 2018

The concept of gene therapy is to treat a disease by transferring therapeutic nucleic acids to a patient's cells. It took several decades from the basic theoretical proposal of gene therapy to the current promising treatment option for some important human diseases. The encountered adverse effects in the early clinical studies boosted the development of sophisticated vectors and elaborate clinical designs. The gene therapy is now considered to have the potential to cure many diseases that are incurable with conventional medications. By the end of 2017, about 2,600 clinical trials of gene therapy have been performed or are ongoing for a variety of diseases such as cancers, monogenic diseases, cardiovascular diseases and neurological diseases etc. Here, we present a brief introduction of technical achievement in relation to gene therapy development, and a review of the current status of global gene therapy clinical development.