• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.336-344
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• 2004

Background : Immunotherapy for cancer has not been successful because of several obstacles in tumor and its environment. Inappropriate secretions of cytokines and growth factors by tumors cause substantial changes in the immune responses against tumors, affording the tumors some degree of protection from immune attack. Uteroglobin (UG, Clara cell secretory protein) has been known to have anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and anti-cancer activities. However, in lung cancer cells, UG expression is decreased. This study investigated the role of UG in the immunomodulation of lung cancer. Methods : The UG protein was overexpressed by Adenovirus(Ad)-UG transduction in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. The concentration of Prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) was measured by Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from whole blood were prepared with Ficoll. PBMC were cultured in RPMI 1640, supernatant of A549, or A549 with UG or NS-398. Concentration of Th 1 type and Th 2 type cytokines from PBMC were measured by ELISA. Results : UG suppressed $PGE_2$, Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) product. Both Th1 type such as Interleukin-2 (IL-2), Interferon-${\gamma}$ (IFN-${\gamma}$) and Tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) and Th2 type cytokines such as IL-10 and Tumor growth factor-${\beta}$ (TGF-${\beta}$) were increased when PBMC were cultured with supernatant of non small lung cancer cells. UG and COX-2 inhibitor, NS-398 induced normal immune response of PBMC. Although Th 1 type cytokines were increased, Th 2 type cytokines were reduced by UG. Conclusion : UG suppressed PGE2, COX-2 product. Supernatant of NSCLC induced imbalance of immune response of PBMC. However, UG reversed this imbalance. These results suggest that UG may be used in the development of immunotherapy for lung cancer.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2015

This study compared the content change of physiological active substances according to the extraction condition when we generally drink the extractive of Schisandra fruit with using water. Physiological active substances of the Schisandra fruit, schizandrin, gomisin A and gomisin N were analysed with HPLC. The results of extracting 1 dose of the Schisandra fruit tea, which is some as 1 g of Schisandra fruit, in 100 mL of water by differing the extraction type, extraction temperature and extraction time were of the followings. The total content of schizandrin, gomisin A and gomisin N of powder type in $26^{\circ}C$ leaching was the highest (p < 0.05) as the leaching content of 24 hours (5.54 mg/g) showed difference with different times and the contents of raw type Schisandra fruit were less than 0.1 mg/g in all of extraction time. The contents of powder type Schisandra fruit in $60^{\circ}C$ heating extraction was over 4.50 mg/g except for the 5 minute (2.94 mg/g), and the contents of raw Schisandra fruit were less than 0.3 mg/g. In case of $100^{\circ}C$ heating extraction, the contents of powder type Schisandra fruit showed over 5.10 mg/g in every time zone, and the raw type Schisandra fruit was less than 1.0 mg/g.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.199-205
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• 2002

In this study, we found a new food additive as an natural herbal extracts against lipid digestion enzymes for the regulation of fatty acid absorption and weight control. The Water extracts of Platycodon grandiflorum and Solanum melongena. inhibited lipase activity and decresed serum total cholesterol and triglyceride concentration in mouse fed lipid emulsion. Twenty three volunteers were subjected to the intake of the herbal extracts plus the egg yolk IgY that inhibit carbohydrate digestion enzymes in gut for 50 days. In average, the treated subjects appeared to lose 1.96 kg of body weight and 3.4 kg of body fat mass during the treated period. Furthermore, Panniculus adiposus and breech size were significantly decreased during the experimental period. Above results suggested that the administration of the dietary additives composed of natural herbal extract and egg yolk IgY improve the obesity by the decrement of body weight and body fat mass.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2014

Background: Epidural steroid injection (ESI) is one of the most common procedures for patients presenting low back pain and radiculopathy. However, there is no clear consensus on what constitutes appropriate steroid use for ESIs. To investigate optimal steroid injection methods for ESIs, surveys were sent to all academic pain centers and selected private practices in Korea via e-mail. Methods: Among 173 pain centers which requested the public health insurance reimbursements for their ESIs and were enrolled in the Korean Pain Society, 122 completed questionnaires were returned, for a rate of 70.5%; also returned were surveys from 39 academic programs and 85 private practices with response rates of 83.0% and 65.9%, respectively. Results: More than half (55%) of Korean pain physicians used dexamethasone for ESIs. The minimum interval of subsequent ESIs at the academic institutions (3.1 weeks) and the private practices (2.1 weeks) were statistically different (P = 0.01). Conclusions: Although there was a wide range of variation, there were no significant differences between the academic institutions and the private practices in terms of the types and single doses of steroids for ESIs, the annual dose of steroids, or the limitations of doses in the event of diabetes, with the exception of the minimum interval before the subsequent ESI.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.55-59
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• 2012

Northern stem canker caused by $Diaporthe$ $phaseolorum$ var. $caulivora$ ($Dpc$) has become a serious disease in soybean. The objectives of this study were to survey the existence of $Dpc$ on soybean in Korea, and to examine the potential pathogenicity of $Dpc$ in seed decay. One such isolate, SSLP-4, isolated from a field-grown plant of the Korean soybean cultivar Danbaekkong, was identified as $Dpc$, based on its morphological and molecular characteristics by sequences of internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translation elongation factor (TEF) 1-${\alpha}$ and ${\beta}$-tubulin regions, as well as pathogenic analyses. Moreover, morphological and molecular analyses revealed that isolate SSLP-4 was nearly identical to $Dpc$ strains from the United States. Pathogenicity tests on hypocotyls of soybean seedlings and detached leaves resulted in typical symptoms of soybean northern stem canker and inoculation on plants at R5-R7 stage caused seed decay. All results suggest that the $Dpc$ strain SSLP-4 can cause both stem canker and seed decay on soybean. Thus, the SSLP-4 isolate has the potential to contribute greatly to understanding of host plant resistance mechanisms, both at vegetative and reproductive growth stages in soybean.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.282-300
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• 2009

This paper attempts to focus the ways in which Seoul as an urban space can be read and interpreted from gender perspective, assuming Seoul as a cultural text which represents modernity and post-modernity. Drawing on discussions of urban sociology and human geography which have analyzed the relationship between material spaces and social subjects, this paper explores the gendered segregation and representations of space in Seoul which has been constructed through the process of modernization. The framework of spatial interpretation of Seoul, concentrating on imageablity and legibility, consists of three dimensions; gendered division of labour and sphere, dichotomy of representations along with femininity and masculinity, and the ways of interlocking between modernity and post-modernity. In this paper, 'fl$\check{a}$nerie', Benjamin's method of interpretation of urban culture and the way of seeing with 'speculum' of Irigaray are adopted as metaphoric methodologies. It is an attempt to develop a new methodology to analyze and interpret urban space from gender-cultural perspective.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.86 no.3
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• pp.226-233
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• 2023

Background: Inactive or old, healed tuberculosis (TB) on chest radiograph (CR) is often found in high TB incidence countries, and to avoid unnecessary evaluation and medication, differentiation from active TB is important. This study develops a deep learning (DL) model to estimate activity in a single chest radiographic analysis. Methods: A total of 3,824 active TB CRs from 511 individuals and 2,277 inactive TB CRs from 558 individuals were retrospectively collected. A pretrained convolutional neural network was fine-tuned to classify active and inactive TB. The model was pretrained with 8,964 pneumonia and 8,525 normal cases from the National Institute of Health (NIH) dataset. During the pretraining phase, the DL model learns the following tasks: pneumonia vs. normal, pneumonia vs. active TB, and active TB vs. normal. The performance of the DL model was validated using three external datasets. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance to determine active TB by DL model and radiologists. Sensitivities and specificities for determining active TB were evaluated for both the DL model and radiologists. Results: The performance of the DL model showed area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.980 in internal validation, and 0.815 and 0.887 in external validation. The AUC values for the DL model, thoracic radiologist, and general radiologist, evaluated using one of the external validation datasets, were 0.815, 0.871, and 0.811, respectively. Conclusion: This DL-based algorithm showed potential as an effective diagnostic tool to identify TB activity, and could be useful for the follow-up of patients with inactive TB in high TB burden countries.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.100-105
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• 2014

Background: We evaluated the safety and efficacy of percutaneous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in patients with primary graft dysfunction after heart transplantation. Methods: Of 65 patients (44 males and 21 females) who underwent heart transplantation from January 2006 to December 2012, 13 patients (group I) needed peripheral ECMO support due to difficulty in weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and 52 patients (group II) were weaned from CPB without mechanical support. The mean age of the patients at the time of operation was $54.4{\pm}13.6$ years. There were no differences in the preoperative characteristics of the two groups. Multivariable analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for ECMO therapy. Results: All group I patients were successfully weaned from ECMO after $53{\pm}9$ hours of circulatory support. Early mortality occurred in four patients (1 [7.7%] in group I and 3 [5.8%] in group II, p>0.999). There were no differences in the postoperative complications between the two groups, with the exception of reoperation for bleeding. A greater number of group I patients underwent reoperation for bleeding (5 [38.5%] in group I vs. 6 [11.5%] in group II, p=0.035). In multivariable analysis, preoperative mechanical support (ECMO and intra-aortic balloon pump) and longer CPB time were the risk factors of ECMO therapy for graft dysfunction (odds ratio, 6.377; 95% confidence interval, 1.519 to 26.77; p=0.011 and odds ratio, 1.010; 95% confidence interval, 1.001 to 1.019; p=0.033). Conclusion: Percutaneous ECMO support could be a viable option for rescuing patients when graft dysfunction refractory to medical management develops after heart transplantation.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.87-104
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• 2014

Although gastric cancer is quite common in Korea, the treatment outcome is relatively favorable compared to those in western countries. However, there are currently no Korean multidisciplinary guidelines for gastric cancer. Experts from related societies developed guidelines de novo to meet Korean circumstances and requirements, including 23 recommendation statements for diagnosis (n=9) and treatment (n=14) based on relevant key questions. The quality of the evidence was rated according to the GRADE evidence evaluation framework: the evidence levels were based on a systematic review of the literature, and the recommendation grades were classified as either strong or weak. The applicability of the guidelines was considered to meet patients' view and preferences in the context of Korea. The topics of the guidelines cover diagnostic modalities (endoscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, and radiologic diagnosis), treatment modalities (surgery, therapeutic endoscopy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy), and pathologic evaluation. An external review of the guidelines was conducted during the finalization phase.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 2018

Purpose: Physicians' attitudes may have a strong influence on women's decision regarding prenatal screening options. The aim of this study is to assess the physicians' attitudes toward prenatal screening for fetal aneuploidy including non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in South Korea. Materials and Methods: Questionnaires were distributed and collected at several obstetrics-gynecological conferences and meetings. The questionnaire included 31 multiple choice and 5 fill-in-the-blank questions. Seven questions requested physicians' demographic information, 17 questions requested information about the NIPT with cell-free fetal DNA, and 12 questions requested information about general prenatal screening practices. Results: Of the 203 obstetricians that completed the survey. In contrast with professional guidelines recommending the universal offering of aneuploidy screening, only 53.7% answered that prenatal aneuploidy testing (screening and/or invasive diagnostic testing) should be offered to all pregnant women. Physicians tended to have positive attitudes toward the clinical application of NIPT as both primary and secondary screening methods for patients at high-risk for fetal trisomy. However, for patients at average-risk for fetal trisomy, physicians tended to have positive attitudes only as a secondary screening method. Physicians with more knowledge about NIPT were found to tend to inform their patients that the detection rate of NIPT is higher. Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate expert opinion on prenatal screening in South Korea. Education of physicians is essential to ensure responsible patient counseling, informed consent, and appropriate management after NIPT.