• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2006

In this paper, we propose a subject-independent regression model to estimate systolic blood pressures (SBP) conveniently and continuously. There have been several researches on estimating SBP with pulse transit time (PTT) and they showed promising results. However, previous studies used only PTT as the estimation parameter, and their models were generated with just one person's PTT data which is not applicable to estimating other person's SBP. Therefore, we collected several additional biometric parameters with 202 healthy subjects. After statistical analysis of measured biometric parameters with SBP, we chose final estimating parameters including PTT to generate a multiple linear regression model for estimating SBP. Comparing the results of our study with approvable standards of automated sphygmomanometers developed by Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation and approved by American National Standards Institute (ANSI/AAMI) indicates that our proposed method for continuously blood pressures monitoring gives an acceptable error.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.401-410
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide basic data necessary for educating nursing students by establishing a desirable sense of ethics values. Method: In this descriptive research, 101 nursing students and 191 non-nursing students (in other health related fields) from Daejeon City were selected. Tools used for data analysis were descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe test and step wise multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 12.0 version. Results: Average scores for consciousness of biomedical ethics in nursing students was 2.94, and in non-nursing students, 2.77. When differences in the consciousness of biomedical ethics of nursing and non-nursing students were compared, nursing students had significantly higher scores for artificial abortion, artificial insemination, prenatal diagnosis of fetus, right to life of newborn, euthanasia, organ transplantation and human biotechnology, but significantly lower for brain death. Variables which influenced consciousness of biomedical ethics were religion and economic status in the nursing students and intent to attend a class in biomedical ethics, quantity and quality of biomedical ethics in the current curriculum and religion in the non-nursing students. Conclusion: Continuing educational programs need to be considered and attention given to the significant variables that can promote consciousness of biomedical ethics in nursing students.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2019

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are one of the families of pattern recognition receptors (PRR) to recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). PAMPs stimulate TLRs to initiate specific immunoactivity. The activation of TLRs signaling leads to the expression of pro-inflammatory gene products such as cytokines and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). To evaluate the therapeutic potential of dehydrocostus lactone (DHL), which is a natural sesquiterpene lactone derived from various medicinal plants, iNOS expression induced by LPS (TLR4 agonist), MALP-2 (TLR2 and TLR6 agonist), or Poly[I:C] (TLR3 agonist) were examined. DHL suppressed the iNOS expression induced by LPS, MALP-2, or Poly[I:C]. DHL also inhibited nitrite production induced by LPS, MALP-2, or Poly[I:C]. These results suggest that DHL can modulate TLRs signaling pathways resulting in anti-inflammatory effect.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2019

The anticancer activity of guava (Psidium guajava L.) leaf extract (GLE) occurs via the induction of apoptosis in cancer cells. However, the mechanism behind GLE-induced apoptosis in the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the apoptotic effects and mechanism of action of GLE in cultured HepG2 cells. The results showed that GLE induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) synthesis and disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential (${\Delta}{\Psi}m$). Moreover, GLE increased the expression of apoptotic pathway proteins, such as the cleaved forms of caspase-3, -8, and -9; the translocation of Bax and cytochrome c (cyt-c) from the mitochondria to the cytosol; and the downregulation of Bcl-2. In addition, p53 protein expression was increased upon GLE treatment. These observations indicate that the GLE-induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells is mediated by mitochondrial ROS generation, followed by caspase activation and cyt-c release, suggesting that GLE may be a promising candidate for the development of novel drugs for the treatment of liver cancers.

• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.181-189
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• 2019

Cancer remains a life-threatening disease and accounts for the major mortality rates worldwide. The practice of using biomarkers for early detection, staging, and customized therapy may increase cancer patients' survival. Deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) are a family of proteases that remove ubiquitin tags from proteins of interest undergoing proteasomal degradation. DUBs play several functional roles other than deubiquitination. One of the important roles of DUBs is regulation of tumor progression. Several reports have suggested that the DUB family members were highly-elevated in various cancer cells and tissues in different stages of cancer. These findings suggest that the DUBs could be used as drug targets in cancer therapeutics. In this review, we recapitulate the role of the DUB family members, including ubiquitin-specific protease, otubain protease, and important candidates from other family members. Our aim was to better understand the connection between DUB expression profiles and cancers to allow researchers to design inhibitors or gene therapies to improve diagnosis and prognosis of cancers.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.49-55
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• 2021

This study attempted to review the research on biomedical ethics of nursing students published in Korea. Keywords included 'nursing students', and 'biomedical ethics', and a total of 26 studies were collected via databases such as KISS, NDSL, RISS. The biomedical ethics awareness was the main concept of biomedical ethics, consisted of right to life of fetus, artificial insemination, organ transplantation, and so on. There were differences in biomedical ethics awareness by ethical education experience, grade, clinical practice experience, and ethical education willingness to attend. Also, major keywords analysed with biomedical ethics were withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, critical thinking, sexual attitude, nursing professionalism, and death perception. Study results can be used to provide basic data for preparing nursing ethics education in the future.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.206-210
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• 2022

Calystegia dahurica (Herb.) Choisy is a natural product that has not been studied for efficacy or active ingredients. The purpose of this study is to investigate the activation effect of natural killer cells using a natural extract composition based on Calystegia dahurica (Herb.) Choisy extract (CDCE). We evaluated the activity of natural killer cells in natural products using PBMCs from healthy participants. All natural products were extracted with 50% ethanol. Based on the results of the cell viability assay, PBMCs of healthy participants were treated with extracts at various concentrations. Then, analysis was performed using flow cytometry to measure the cd107a surface expression of natural killer cells. As a result, treatment with a single extract of PBMCs increased the expression of cd107a in a concentration-dependent. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the treatment of the extract composition showed the highest expression of cd107a. In conclusion, it is expected that the extract composition containing CDCE according to this study can be used for prevention or treatment of cancer cells, tumor cells, and immune diseases.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2024

The national diabetes and prediabetes prevalence rate has risen among Korean adolescents and adults. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is commonly interrelated with genetic, metabolic, and environmental risk factors in clinical practice. In this study, we analyzed the association between genetic polymorphisms of the ABO gene with T2DM in the Korean population, we conducted an analysis of gene-phenotype correlation, based on an additive genetic model. A total of 8,840 subjects from the Korea Association REsource (KARE) were selected for this study. Using the genetic and epidemiologic data of 754 T2DM cases and 5721 normal controls from the KARE, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ABO gene were analyzed for their genetic correlation. As a result, 8 SNPs out of the ABO gene demonstrated statistically significant association with T2DM. Among them, rs657152 in the ABO gene statistically showed the most significant correlation with T2DM (P-value=0.0084, OR=1.15, CI=1.04~1.28). The minor allele of A polymorphism within the intron genetic region of ABO directed increased risk of T2DM. This work reveals a significant association between genetic polymorphism in the ABO gene and T2DM. This finding suggested that ABO SNPs markers might be a genetic correlation to the etiology of T2DM.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.367-372
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• 2008

Cellular protection against carcinogens could be achieved by the induction of phase 2 detoxifying and antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione S-transferase (GST), NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and heme oxygenase 1 (HO1). Nuclear transcription factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) binds to antioxidant response element (ARE) in the promoter region of these genes and the resulting transactivation occurs. In the present study the effect of gujeolcho (Chrysanthemum zawadskii) roots on the Nrf2-ARE pathway were investigated. C. zawadskii root extract was fractionated with a series of organic solvents and their ability to induce Nrf2-ARE pathway was examined. We separated the most potent dichloromethane (DCM) fraction into 12 sub-fractions and found several sub-fractions with strong effects on the Nrf2-ARE pathway. Fraction 4 strongly induced the ARE-reporter gene activity as well as Nrf2 expression. Sitosterol was isolated as a major compound in fraction 4 although its activity was not as potent as its mother fraction. These results indicate that C. zawadskii roots might be used as a potential natural chemopreventive source.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 2007

Cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine), which comes from Cordyceps militaris, the Chinese medicinal fungal genus Cordyceps, is used in the treatment of various diseases such as cancer and chronic inflammation. We recently reported that cordycepin has a novel antiplatelet effect through the down regulation of $[Ca^{2+}]_{i}$ and the elevation of cGMP/cAMP production. In this study, we further investigated the effect of cordycepin on collagen-induced platelet aggregation in the presence of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG)- or cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA)-inhibitor. PKG inhibitor Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS potentiated the collagen-induced platelet aggregation, but PKA inhibitor Rp-8-Br-cAMPS did not. However, both Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS and Rp-8-Br-cAMPS reduced inhibition by cordycepin of collagen-induced platelet aggregation. Moreover, cordycepin inhibited $Ca^{2+}-dependent$ phosphorylation of both 47 kDa- and 20 kDa-protein in the presence of both PKG inhibitor and PKA inhibitor. Taken altogether, these results suggest that the inhibitory effect of cordycepin on collagen-induced platelet aggregation is associated with cGMP/PKG- and cAMP/PKA-pathways, and thus cordycepin may be an efficacious intervention against platelet aggregation-mediated thrombotic disease.