• Title/Summary/Keyword: biological sensitivity

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Down-Regulation of MicroRNA-210 Confers Sensitivity towards 1'S-1'-Acetoxychavicol Acetate (ACA) in Cervical Cancer Cells by Targeting SMAD4

  • Phuah, Neoh Hun;Azmi, Mohamad Nurul;Awang, Khalijah;Nagoor, Noor Hasima
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.40 no.4
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    • pp.291-298
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    • 2017
  • MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that regulate genes posttranscriptionally. Past studies have reported that miR-210 is up-regulated in many cancers including cervical cancer, and plays a pleiotropic role in carcinogenesis. However, its role in regulating response towards anti-cancer agents has not been fully elucidated. We have previously reported that the natural compound 1'S-1'-acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA) is able to induce cytotoxicity in various cancer cells including cervical cancer cells. Hence, this study aims to investigate the mechanistic role of miR-210 in regulating response towards ACA in cervical cancer cells. In the present study, we found that ACA down-regulated miR-210 expression in cervical cancer cells, and suppression of miR-210 expression enhanced sensitivity towards ACA by inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis. Western blot analysis showed increased expression of mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (SMAD4), which was predicted as a target of miR-210 by target prediction programs, following treatment with ACA. Luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-210 binds to sequences in 3'UTR of SMAD4. Furthermore, decreased in SMAD4 protein expression was observed when miR-210 was overexpressed. Conversely, SMAD4 protein expression increased when miR-210 expression was suppressed. Lastly, we demonstrated that overexpression of SMAD4 augmented the anti-proliferative and apoptosis-inducing effects of ACA. Taken together, our results demonstrated that down-regulation of miR-210 conferred sensitivity towards ACA in cervical cancer cells by targeting SMAD4. These findings suggest that combination of miRNAs and natural compounds could provide new strategies in treating cervical cancer.

Combined Dexamethasone/Insulin-induced Hypoglycemic Test in Manic and Schizophrenic Patients (조증 및 정신분열병 환자에서 덱사메사손/인슐린-유도성 저혈당 병합검사)

  • Sung, Si Yong;Park, Chul Soo;Sohn, Jin Wook
    • Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.272-278
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    • 1997
  • Many investigators are trying to elucidate the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders on the basis of neuroendocrine responses to stimulation or perturbation. Dexamethasone(DEX) suppression has been the most widely utilized as the prototypical challenge test. Dexamethasone suppression test(DST) has proven to be valuable in diagnosing the depressive spectrum disorder. Reported specificity of diagnosis of depression is relatively high, but sensitivity is limited. Some researchers used the combination of dexamethasone and corticotropin releasing hormone(CRH) in order to improve the sensitivity. They reported that combined DEX/CRH test is more sensitive than DST alone. In this study the authors modified the DEX/CRH test, i.e., we administered the insulin instead of CRH. Total subjects were 28(7 normal controls, 10 manic patients, 11 schizophrenic patients). Subjects were taken DEX(1.5mg p.o.) at 11 p.m., insulin 16 hours later(0.1 unit/kg i.v.). Five blood samples for the determination of cortisol and ACTH were serially drawn at 15 minute interval. The results are as followings : 1) The cortisol and ACTH levels of manic subjects increased following insulin administration. Manic subjects showed higher levels of cortisol and ACTH than schizophrenic and normal control subjects. The cortisol and ACTH levels of schizophrenic and normal control subjects did not show gross changes. 2) The sensitivity of the test was lower than that of reported DEX/CRH test.

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IDH1 Overexpression Induced Chemotherapy Resistance and IDH1 Mutation Enhanced Chemotherapy Sensitivity in Glioma Cells in Vitro and in Vivo

  • Wang, Ju-Bo;Dong, Dan-Feng;Wang, Mao-De;Gao, Ke
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.427-432
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    • 2014
  • Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) is of great importance in cell metabolism and energy conversion. IDH mutation in glioma cells is reported to be associated with an increased overall survival. However, effects biological behavior of therapy of gliomas are unclear. Here, we investigated the influence of wild-type and mutated IDH genes on glioma cell biological behavior and response to chemotherapy. Relevant mechanisms were further explored. We designed our study on the background of the IDHR132H mutation. Stable cell lines were constructed by transfection. The CCK-8 method was used to assess cell proliferation, flow cytometry for the cell cycle and cell apoptosis, and the transwell method for cell invasion. Nude mouse models were employed to determine tumorigenesis and sensitivity to chemotherapy. Western blotting was used to detect relevant protein expression levels. We found that overexpression of wild IDH1 gene did not cause changes in the cell cycle, apoptosis and invasion ability. However, it resulted in chemotherapy resistance to a high dose of temozolomide (TMZ) in vivo and in vitro. The IDH1 mutation caused cell cycle arrest in G1 stage and a reduction of proliferation and invasion ability, while raising sensitivity to chemotherapy. This may provide an explanation for the better prognosis of IDH1 mutated glioma patients and the relative worse prognosis of their wild-type IDH1 counterparts. We also expect IDH1 mutations may be optimized as new targets to improve the prognosis of glioma patients.

High $T_c$ SQUID system for biological immunoassays

  • Enpuku, K.
    • 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
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    • v.10
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    • pp.7-7
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    • 2000
  • A high $T_c$ SQUID system is developed for the application to biological immunoassay. In this application, magnetic nanoparticles are used as magnetic markers to perform immunoassay, i.e., to detect binding reaction between an antigen and its antibody. The antibody is labeled with ${\gamma}-Fe_2O_3\;(or\;Fe_3O_4)$ nanoparticles, and the binding reaction can be magnetically detected by measuring the magnetic field from the nanoparticles. Design and set up of the system is described. The system consists of (1) SQUID magnetometer or gradiometer made of 30-deg. bicrystal junctions, (2) field and compensation coils to apply the magnetic field of about 1 mT, (3) special Dewar to realize a 2 mm-distance between the SQUID and the sample, (4) two layers of cylindrical shielding to reduce the extemal magnetic noise to about 1/100, and (5) an electric slider to move the sample with a speed of 10 mm/sec. The sensitivity of the system is studied in terms of detectable magnetic flux. For the measurement bandwidth from 0.2 Hz to 10 Hz, minimum-detectable amplitude of the magnetic flux is $0.8\;m\;{\Phi}_o$ and $0.25\;m{\Phi}_o$ for the magnetometer and the gradiometer, respectively, when the magnetic field of 1 mT is applied. The difference between them is due to the residual environmental noise, and the applied magnetic field does not increase the system noise. The corresponding weight of the magnetic markers is 1 ng and 310 pg, respectively. An experiment is also conducted to measure antigen-antibody reaction with the present system. It is shown that the sensitivity of the present system is 10 times better than that of the conventional method using an optical marker. A one order of magnitude improvement of sensitivity will be realized by the sophistication of the present system.

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Male Mating Strategies through Manipulation of Female-perceived Predation Risk: A Minireview and a Hypothesis

  • Han, Chang-S.;Jablonski, Piotr G.
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.31 no.1
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    • pp.1-7
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    • 2008
  • In this minireview we focus on how males may exploit female's sensitivity to predation risk in the context of mating. It has been shown in studies on guppies and jumping spiders that in response to altered female behaviors, which are adaptations to the unfavorable environment and a consequence of females' higher sensitivity to predator's presence as well as females' higher predation risk, males can adopt condition-dependent mating tactics. It appears that in such cases males do not modify their reproductive behavior directly in response to their own perception of predation risk, but indirectly in response to changes in female behavior induced by predator presence. It has also been recently shown in crabs that males can exploit female behavior by creating safer habitat spots, which increases the male mating success. Hence all the evidence suggests that males not only respond to female sensitivity to the natural variation in predation risk, but that males can also exploit female behavior by altering the environment. As a logical extension of these findings, we present a hypothesis that in certain conditions males can manipulate the environment in order to increase the predation risk and to induce female behaviors that enhance the male's mating success with the increased predation risk. We propose that such a manipulation to increase predation risk is expected to evolve in males of species with a strong sexual conflict and female-biased predation risk. Although empirical evidence has not been yet shown, initial observations in a water strider species in Korea, Gerris gracilicornis, seem to support this hypothesis.

Clinical Characteristics of Female Panic Disorder Patients with Abortion History (유산 경험이 있는 여성 공황장애 환자의 임상적 특성)

  • Hwang, Hye Jin;Oh, Jongsoo;Bang, Minji;Won, Eunsoo;Lee, Kang Soo;Choi, Tai Kiu;Lee, Sang-Hyuk
    • Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.65-70
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    • 2019
  • Objectives The objective of this study is to investigate differences in clinical characteristics between female panic disorder (PD) patients with abortion history (PD+A) and without abortion history (PD-A). Methods We examined data from 341 female patients diagnosed with PD. We divided the patients with PD into PD+A (82 patients) and PD-A (259 patients) to compare demographic and clinical characteristics. The following instruments were applied : stress coping strategies, NEO-neuroticism, the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised (ASI-R), the Albany Panic and Phobia Questionnaire (APPQ), the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Sheehan Disability Scale. Results Compared to the PD-A, the PD+A group showed no significant difference in coping strategies. However, significantly higher scores in neuroticism, the ASI-R, the APPQ and the BAI were observed. In terms of health-related disability, the PD+A group did not show significant difference. Conclusions Our results suggest that the PD+A group may differ from the PD-A group in trait markers such as neuroticism and anxiety sensitivity, and abortion history may be associated with panic-related symptom severity. Our study suggests that further consideration is needed on such clinical characteristics in PD patients with abortion history.

Porous silicon-based chemical and biosensors (다공질 실리콘 구조를 이용한 화학 및 바이오 센서)

  • Kim, Yun-Ho;Park, Eun-Jin;Choi, Woo-Seok;Hong, Suk-In;Min, Nam-Ki
    • Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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    • 2005.07c
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    • pp.2410-2412
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    • 2005
  • In this study, two types of PS substrate were fabricated for sensing of chemical and biological substances. For sensing of the humidity and chemical analyzes such as $CH_3OH$ or $C_2H_5OH$, PS layers are prepared by photoelectrochemical etching of silicon wafer in aqueous hydrofluoric acid solution. To evaluate their sensitivity, we measured the resistance variation of the PS diaphragm. As the amplitude of applied voltage increases from 2 to 6Vpp at constant frequency of 5kHz, the resistance variation for humidity sensor rises from 376.3 to $784.8{\Omega}$/%RH. And the sensitivities for $CH_3OH$ and $C_2H_5OH$ were 0.068 uA/% and 0.212 uA/%, respectively. For biological sensing application, amperometric urea sensors were fabricated based on porous silicon(PS), and planar silicon(PLS) electrode substrates by the electrochemical methods. Pt thin film was sputtered on these substrates which were previously formed by electrochemical anodization. Poly (3-methylthiophene) (P3MT) were used for electron transfer matrix between urease(Urs) and the electrode phase, and Urs also was by electrochemically immobilized. Effective working area of these electrodes was determined for the first time by using $Fe(CN)_6^{3-}/Fe(CN)_6^{4-}$ redox couple in which nearly reversible cyclic voltammograms were obtained. The $i_p$ vs $v^{1/2}$ plots show that effective working electrode area of the PS-based Pt thin film electrode was 1.6 times larger than the PLS-based one and we can readily expect the enlarged surface area of PS electrode would result in increased sensitivity by ca. 1.6 times. Actually, amperometric sensitivity of the Urs/P3MT/Pt/PS electrode was ca 0.91uA/$mM{\cdot}cm^2$, and that of the Urs/P3MT/Pt/PLS electrode was ca. 0.91uA/$mM{\cdot}cm^2$ in a linear range of 1mmol/L to 100mmol/L urea concentrations

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Environmental features of the distribution areas and climate sensitivity assesment of Korean Fir and Khinghan Fir (구상나무와 분비나무분포지의 환경 특성 및 기후변화 민감성 평가)

  • Park, Hyun-Chul;Lee, Jung-Hwan;Lee, Gwan-Gyu;Um, Gi-Jeung
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.260-277
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    • 2015
  • The object of this study was the climate change sensitivity assessment of Korean Fir and Khinghan Fir as a representative subalpine plant in South Korea. Using species distribution models, we predicted the probability of current and future species distribution. According to this study, potential distribution that have been predicted based on the threshold (MTSS) is, Khinghan Fir was higher loss rate than Korean Fir. And in the climate change sensitivity assessment using the scalar sensitivity weight ($W_{is}$), $W_{is}$ of Korean Fir was higher relatively than the sensitivity of Khinghan Fir. When using the species distribution models as shown in this study may vary depending on the probability of presence data and spatial variables. Therefore should be prior decision studies on the ecological environment of the study species. Based on this study, if it is domestic applicable climate change sensitivity assessment method is developed. it would be important decision-making to climate change and biological diversity of adaptation policy.

A Liquid-Based Colorimetric Assay of Lysine Decarboxylase and Its Application to Enzymatic Assay

  • Kim, Yong Hyun;Sathiyanarayanan, Ganesan;Kim, Hyun Joong;Bhatia, Shashi Kant;Seo, Hyung-Min;Kim, Jung-Ho;Song, Hun-Seok;Kim, Yun-Gon;Park, Kyungmoon;Yang, Yung-Hun
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.25 no.12
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    • pp.2110-2115
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    • 2015
  • A liquid-based colorimetric assay using a pH indicator was introduced for high-throughput monitoring of lysine decarboxylase activity. The assay is based on the color change of bromocresol purple, measured at 595 nm in liquid reaction mixture, due to an increase of pH by the production of cadaverine. Bromocresol purple was selected as the indicator because it has higher sensitivity than bromothymol blue and pheonol red within a broad range and shows good linearity within the applied pH. We applied this for simple determination of lysine decarboxylase reusability using 96-well plates, and optimization of conditions for enzyme overexpression with different concentrations of IPTG on lysine decarboxylase. This assay is expected to be applied for monitoring and quantifying the liquid-based enzyme reaction in biotransformation of decarboxylase in a high-throughput way.

Increased Antibiotic Resistance of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300 Δpsm Mutants and a Complementation Study of Δpsm Mutants Using Synthetic Phenol-Soluble Modulins

  • Song, Hun-Suk;Bhatia, Shashi Kant;Choi, Tae-Rim;Gurav, Ranjit;Kim, Hyun Joong;Lee, Sun Mi;Park, Sol Lee;Lee, Hye Soo;Joo, Hwang-Soo;Kim, Wooseong;Seo, Seung-Oh;Yang, Yung-Hun
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.31 no.1
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    • pp.115-122
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    • 2021
  • Phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs) are responsible for regulating biofilm formation, persister cell formation, pmtR expression, host cell lysis, and anti-bacterial effects. To determine the effect of psm deletion on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, we investigated psm deletion mutants including Δpsmα, Δpsmβ, and Δpsmαβ. These mutants exhibited increased β-lactam antibiotic resistance to ampicillin and oxacillin that was shown to be caused by increased N-acetylmannosamine kinase (nanK) mRNA expression, which regulates persister cell formation, leading to changes in the pattern of phospholipid fatty acids resulting in increased anteiso-C15:0, and increased membrane hydrophobicity with the deletion of PSMs. When synthetic PSMs were applied to Δpsmα and Δpsmβ mutants, treatment of Δpsmα with PSMα1-4 and Δpsmβ with PSMβ1-2 restored the sensitivity to oxacillin and slightly reduced the biofilm formation. Addition of a single fragment showed that α1, α2, α3, and β2 had an inhibiting effect on biofilms in Δpsmα; however, β1 showed an enhancing effect on biofilms in Δpsmβ. This study demonstrates a possible reason for the increased antibiotic resistance in psm mutants and the effect of PSMs on biofilm formation.