• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.426-434
• /
• 2022

Aim: This study investigates the effects of ginsenoside Rb1 (GsRb1) on methamphetamine (METH)-induced toxicity in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells and METH-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) in adult Sprague-Dawley rats. It also examines whether GsRb1 can regulate these effects through the NR2B/ERK/CREB/BDNF signaling pathways. Methods: SH-SY5Y cells were pretreated with GsRb1 (20 mM and 40 mM) for 1 h, followed by METH treatment (2 mM) for 24 h. Rats were treated with METH (2 mg/kg) or saline on alternating days for 10 days to allow CPP to be examined. GsRb1 (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally 1 h before METH or saline. Western blot was used to examine the protein expression of NR2B, ERK, P-ERK, CREB, P-CREB, and BDNF in the SH-SY5Y cells and the rats' hippocampus, nucleus accumbens (NAc), and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Results: METH dose-dependently reduced the viability of SH-SY5Y cells. Pretreatment of cells with 40 µM of GsRb1 increased cell viability and reduced the expression of METH-induced NR2B, p-ERK, p-CREB and BDNF. GsRb1 also attenuated the expression of METH CPP in a dose-dependent manner in rats. Further, GsRb1 dose-dependently reduced the expression of METH-induced NR2B, p-ERK, p-CREB, and BDNF in the PFC, hippocampus, and NAc of rats. Conclusion: GsRb1 regulated METH-induced neurotoxicity in vitro and METH-induced CPP through the NR2B/ERK/CREB/BDNF regulatory pathway. GsRb1 could be a therapeutic target for treating METH-induced neurotoxicity or METH addiction.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.120-134
• /
• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to identify prognostic factors for patients with distant lymph node-involved gastric cancer (GC) using a machine learning algorithm, a method that offers considerable advantages and new prospects for high-dimensional biomedical data exploration. Materials and Methods: This study employed 79 features of clinical pathology, laboratory tests, and therapeutic details from 289 GC patients whose distant lymphadenopathy was presented as the first episode of recurrence or metastasis. Outcomes were measured as any-cause death events and survival months after distant lymph node metastasis. A prediction model was built based on possible outcome predictors using a random survival forest algorithm and confirmed by 5×5 nested cross-validation. The effects of single variables were interpreted using partial dependence plots. A contour plot was used to visually represent survival prediction based on 2 predictive features. Results: The median survival time of patients with GC with distant nodal metastasis was 9.2 months. The optimal model incorporated the prealbumin level and the prothrombin time (PT), and yielded a prediction error of 0.353. The inclusion of other variables resulted in poorer model performance. Patients with higher serum prealbumin levels or shorter PTs had a significantly better prognosis. The predicted one-year survival rate was stratified and illustrated as a contour plot based on the combined effect the prealbumin level and the PT. Conclusions: Machine learning is useful for identifying the important determinants of cancer survival using high-dimensional datasets. The prealbumin level and the PT on distant lymph node metastasis are the 2 most crucial factors in predicting the subsequent survival time of advanced GC.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.164-177
• /
• 2022

Medical device usability evaluation refers to the evaluation of medical devices through actual users before the final prototype production is completed. IEC 62366, one of the international safety standards for electronic medical devices, is a standard that must be applied to obtain medical device licenses in major advanced countries such as Europe and the United States. In Korea, through the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's notice, from January 2021, sequential application by grade has been implemented. In this study, 15 participant specialists were recruited through the Incheon G University Hospital Medical Device Convergence Center for formative evaluation during user suitability evaluation of the focused ultrasound stimulation system being developed by Icleo Co., Ltd., and the test was conducted through joint scenario development. . In the result of task performance, the performance rate was 90.67%, and after the completion of the performance, 86.67% of 'Easy user interface' and 94% of 'Identification/Readability/Understanding of information' questions in the participant survey results analysis by question. The response rate was above average.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.54 no.3
• /
• pp.217-223
• /
• 2022

Among various health functional foods, probiotics constitute the largest market. The interest in probiotics is increasing continuously according to the research results that gut health can control the immune function of the body, prevent diseases, and assist in treatment. In this study, dairy products and dressing sauces were developed using Ficus carica vinegar (FV), and their effects on colon cells were analyzed. When 5% FV was added to regular milk, the satisfaction with the resulting yogurt and ricotta cheese was high. The dairy product was Leuconostoc lactis, and the number of bacteria was more than 1.0×10⁷~1.0×10⁸ CFU/mL. The product satisfied the health food standards as probiotics. An examination of the cell viability of Caco-2 cells, which proliferate similarly to human intestinal epithelial cells, revealed an approximately 19% increase in the proliferation rate when treated with whey at 10%. An antioxidant activity of up to 58% was recorded when the cells were treated with whey at various concentrations. In addition, excellent adhesion was observed for L.latis isolated from whey. This study confirmed that dairy products made using traditionally fermented FV assist intestinal health effectively as the microbiome.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.54 no.3
• /
• pp.192-200
• /
• 2022

The association between heavy metals in the blood and obesity has been examined in many studies. However, inconsistencies have been observed in the results from these studies. The present study was conducted using data from 119,181 participants of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) for 11 years in 2005 and between 2008 and 2017. The subjects with missing heavy metal blood tests, health interview data, and health examination data were excluded from the study. The study population comprised 1,844 individuals (972 men, 872 women) who were eligible for inclusion. It was found that obesity and abdominal obesity were associated with an increase in both blood mercury (P<0.001) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P<0.001). After adjusting the confounding factors, those with concurrent high levels of ALT and the highest tertile of mercury showed an increased risk of obesity (odds ratio 4.46, 95%, confidence interval 2.23~8.90, P<0.001) as well as abdominal obesity (odds ratio 5.36, 95%, confidence interval 2.57~11.17, P<0.001). The interrelationship of mercury and ALT with the parameters of body mass index (P for interaction=0.009) and waist circumference (P for interaction=0.012), respectively, have been observed to be significant, suggesting that the reciprocal relationship could contribute to obesity and abdominal obesity.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.8 no.6
• /
• pp.333-339
• /
• 2022

Finding traces of the numerous contexts that exist in our culture surrounding an old-narrative and leading to it's textualization provides a chance to read the story anew. The 'Pieun(避隱)' section of 'Samgukyusa' contains the stories of people who hide from the world and avoid it, as well as the different types of stories by the compiler, the Buddihist monk, Ilyeon. In other words, the compiler has textualized the story. This study aims to attentively analyze the specific story in the 'Pieun' section and read the insights of the compiler on whether to move into the world or hide from the world. Through this analysis, it is apparent that the episode of 'Pieun' does not only illustrate the characters who wish to escape or hide from the world, but it also enables readers to grasp the intention of Ilyeon who deliberately includes the banquet story which is contrary to the meaning of the title. In the 'Pieun', he emphasizes that the behavior of revealing and hiding oneself to and from the world has significant religious and cultural meanings for an individual. The writer, without distinguishing people who move into the world or hide from it, used the Buddhist Dialectictics method to present a different interpretation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.381-386
• /
• 2022

Non-Destruction Test (NDT) is a method to check internal defects without destroying the product. Among them, radiographic testing (RT) uses high-energy radiation, so it is very important to prevent radiation exposure of workers. Therefore, in this study, in this study, a radiation sensor structure that improves radiation detection performance compared to the existing PbI₂ and can immediately detect accidents in RT was presented. For evaluation, the conversion efficiency was analyzed in the gamma ray source through FLUKA simulation. PbI₂ with overlapping Gd₂O₂S:Tb presented in this study showed a higher radiation sensitivity from 1.22 to 3.22 times than that of non-overlapping PbI₂. This indicates that the presented sensor is suitable for use as a radiation sensor for source detection in RT.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.50-59
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study was to analyze the patients hospitalized with damage by injury code based on data for two years in 2020 and 2021 of A institution located in Gangneung, Gangwon-do. Analyzed the injury codes with a large number of occurrences per year, and analyzed the injury codes of external causes accordingly. The cause of the injury code was analyzed by analyzing the frequency of the injury code of external causes. Injury code S0650 had the highest frequency of injury code of external causes W189 and X5999, which was judged to be the cause of traumatic subdural hemorrhage without open intracranial wounds when falling in an unspecified place or toilet. Injury code S72120 had the highest frequency of injury code of external causes W010 and W180, and it was judged to be the cause of obstructive femoral intertrochanteric fracture that occurs when falling in the residence. The injury code S32090 had a high frequency of X5999, and it was analyzed that it caused the obstructive fracture of the lumbar region due to an accident caused by exposure in an unspecified place, and the injury code S72.090 had a high frequency of W010 and W180. It was confirmed that the cause of the obstructive fracture of the femoral neck was mainly caused by slipping or slipping in the residence, and the injury code S0220 had a high frequency of the injury code of external causes Y049, and it was confirmed that the fibula was fractured mainly by the force or fist. As such, the cause of the injury code was analyzed by analyzing the frequency of the injury code for each injury code of external causes.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.350-358
• /
• 2023

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) is a viral infectious disease that occurs in children under 5 years of age. Its main causes are coxsackievirus (CV) and enterovirus (EV). Since there are no efficient therapeutics for HFMD, vaccines are effective in preventing the disease. To develop broad coverage against CV and EV, the development of a bivalent vaccine form is needed. The Mongolian gerbil is an efficient and suitable animal model of EV71 C4a and CVA16 infection used to investigate vaccine efficacy following direct immunization. In this study, Mongolian gerbils were immunized with a bivalent inactivated EV71 C4a and inactivated CVA16 vaccine to test their effectiveness against viral infection. Bivalent vaccine immunization resulted in increased Ag-specific IgG antibody production; specifically, EV71 C4a-specific IgG was increased with medium and high doses and CVA16-specific IgG was increased with all doses of immunization. When gene expression of T cell-biased cytokines was analysed, Th1, Th2, and Th17 responses were found to be highly activated in the high-dose immunization group. Moreover, bivalent vaccine immunization mitigated paralytic signs and increased the survival rate following lethal viral challenges. When the viral RNA content was determined from various organs, all three doses of bivalent vaccine immunization were found to significantly decrease viral amplification. Upon histologic examination, EV71 C4a and CVA16 induced tissue damage to the heart and muscle. However, bivalent vaccine immunization alleviated this in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that the bivalent inactivated EV71 C4a/CVA16 vaccine could be a safe and effective candidate HFMD vaccine.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.93-102
• /
• 2023

Centella asiatica (C. asiatica) has been widely used in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industry as a functional material. In a previous study, we have investigated not only pharmacological effects such as antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects, but also analyzed various functional ingredients. In this study, triterpenoids were analyzed using HPLC-DAD to determine marker compounds among functional ingredients. When triterpenoids were analyzed, asiaticoside from C. asiatica was determined as an optimal marker compound. Next, specificity, linearity, limited of detection (LOD), limited of quantification (LOQ), precision, accuracy, and range were evaluated using HPLC-DAD to determine asiaticoside contents in C. asiatica juice and extracts. The specificity was elucidated by chromatogram and retention time using an established analytical method. The coefficient of correlation obtained was 0.9996. LOD was 4.99 ㎍/mL and LOQ was 15.12 ㎍/mL. Intra- and inter-day precision of asiaticoside were determined to be 0.48~1.68% and 0.08~1.09%, respectively. Furthermore, the recovery rate of asiaticoside was 98.88% and the analytical range of Field-70E was determined to be 0.625~10 mg/mL. As a results of evaluating ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP antioxidative effect, Field-70E showed potent antioxidant activities. Results of this study could be used as basic data for quality standardization of C. astiatica juice and extracts.