• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.479-484
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• 2015

NOD2 (nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain 2) was initially reported as a susceptibility gene for Crohn's disease, with several studies focused on elucidating its molecular mechanism in the progression of Crohn's disease. We now know that NOD2 is an intracellular bacterial sensing receptor, and that MDP-mediated NOD2 activation drives inflammatory signaling. Various mutations in NOD2 have been reported, with NOD2 loss of function being associated with the development of Crohn's disease and other autoimmune diseases. These results suggest that NOD2 not only has an immune stimulatory function, but also an immune regulatory function. Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arterial wall; its pathologic progression is highly dependent on the immune balance. This immune balance is regulated by infiltrating monocytes and macrophages, both of which express NOD2. These findings indicate a potential role of NOD2 in atherosclerosis. The purpose of this review is to outline the known roles of NOD2 signaling in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.4953-4960
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• 2013

Primary liver cancer is one of the most common cancers at the global level, accounting for half of all cancers in some undeveloped countries. This disease tends to occur in livers damaged through alcohol abuse, or chronic infection with hepatitis B and C, on a background of cirrhosis. Various cancer-causing substances are associated with primary liver cancer, including certain pesticides and such chemicals as vinyl chloride and arsenic. The strong association between HBV infection and liver cancer is well documented in epidemiological studies. It is generally acknowledged that the virus is involved through long term chronic infection, frequently associated with cirrhosis, suggesting a nonspecific mechanism triggered by the immune response. Chronic inflammation of liver, continuous cell death, abnormal cell growth, would increase the occurrence rate of genetic alterations and risk of disease. However, the statistics indicated that only about one fifth of HBV carries would develop HCC in lifetime, suggesting that individual variation in genome would also influence the susceptibility of HCC. The goal of this review is to highlight present level of knowledge on the role of viral infection and genetic variation in the development of liver cancer.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.324-335
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• 2011

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA), the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in humans has been known to reside on chromosome 6 and encodes cell-surface antigen-presenting proteins and many other proteins related to immune system function. The HLA is highly polymorphic and the most genetically variable coding loci in humans. In addition to a critical role in transplantation medicine, HLA and disease associations have been widely studied across the populations worldwide and are found to be important in prediction of disease susceptibility, resistance and of evolutionary maintenance of genetic diversity. Because recently developed molecular based HLA typing has several advantages like improved specimen stability and increased resolution of HLA types, the association between HLA alleles and a given disease could be more accurately quantified. Here, in this review, we have collected HLA association data on some autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, cancers, drug responsiveness and other diseases with unknown etiology in Koreans and attempt to summarize some remarkable HLA alleles related with specific diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.spc1
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• pp.65-84
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• 2005

Invasive candidiasis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Clinical diagnosis is complicated by a lack of specific clinical signs and symptoms of disease. Laboratory diagnosis is also complex because circulating antibodies to Candida species may occur in normal individuals as the result of commensal colonization of mucosal surfaces thereby reducing the usefulness of antibody detection for the diagnosis of this disease. In addition, Candida species antigens are often rapidly cleared from the circulation so that antigen detection tests often lack the desired level of sensitivity. Microbiological confirmation is difficult because blood cultures can be negative in up to 50% of autopsy-proven cases of deep-seated candidiasis or may only become positive late in the infection. Positive cultures from urine or mucosal surfaces do not necessarily indicate invasive disease although can occur during systemic infection. Furthermore, differences in the virulence and in the susceptibility of the various Candida species to antifungal drugs make identification to the species level important for clinical management. Newer molecular biological tests have generated interest but are not yet standardized or readily available in most clinical laboratory settings nor have they been validated in large clinical trials. Laboratory surveillance of at-risk patients could result in earlier initiation of antifungal therapy if sensitive and specific diagnostic tests, which are also cost effective, become available. This review will compare diagnostic tests currently in use as well as those under development by describing their assets and limitations for the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1660-1666
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• 2012

Cystic echinococcosis (CE), one of the world's most geographically widespread diseases, still represents a considerable economic and public health significance, although a variety of methods has been used to control the disease. It has been demonstrated that genetic factors, especially variations in MHC loci, can influence the outcome of CE infection in the human population. The study described here was designed to determine whether variation in MHC-DQB1 was associated with susceptibility or resistance to CE in sheep. If so, it would lay a theoretical foundation for breeding disease resistance sheep in future. This study was carried out on 204 Chinese Merino sheep, including 101 CE sheep and 103 healthy controls. The polymorphism of MHC-DQB1 exon 2 was detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method, and $x^2$ test was used to compare genotype frequencies between CE sheep and healthy controls. A total of 22 alleles and 42 genotypes were identified in DQB1 exon 2 in Chinese Merino sheep. In addition, $x^2$ test showed that frequencies of DQB1-TaqIaa and DQB1-HaeIIInn genotypes were significantly higher in the healthy group (82.5% and 57.3%, respectively) than that in the CE group (57.4% and 28.9%, respectively) (both p values = 0, OR = 0.286, 0.303, respectively), suggesting that these genotypes appeared to be associated with resistance to CE. Whereas, frequencies of DQB1-TaqIab and DQB1-HaeIIImn genotypes were significantly higher in the CE group (36.9% and 32.0%, respectively), as compared with the healthy group (16.5% and 11.15%, respectively) (p = 0.001, 0.001 and OR = 2.963, 3.629, respectively), indicating that these genotypes might be associated with susceptibility to CE. It is concluded that the genetic polymorphism within MHC-DQB1 might influence immune responses to pathogens, thus leading to the development of CE or protection against CE in Chinese Merino sheep, which would pave the way for breeding disease resistance sheep in future.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.150-164
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• 2024

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the levels of brain iron deposition in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients using Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) and to determine whether distinctions compared to the general population exist. Furthermore, we examined potential variations in iron deposition among different PD subtypes. Methods: Structural brain imaging was conducted on 75 participants at Gangdong Kyung Hee University Hospital between August 2017 and May 2020. PD patients were categorized into Tremor Dominant (TD) and Postural Instability and Gait Difficulty (PIGD) subtypes. Voxel-based morphometry and QSM were employed to compare voxel-wise magnetic susceptibility across the entire brain between Normal Controls (NC) and PD groups. Subsequently, QSM values were compared between TD and PIGD groups. Results: QSM values were compared among 46 PD patients and 23 normal controls, as well as between TD (n=22) and PIGD (n=24) groups. Voxel-based QSM analysis revealed no significant differences between groups. Similarly, ROI-based QSM analysis showed no significant distinctions. Conclusions: No significant variations were observed between the PD patient group, NC group, or PD subtypes. This study systematically compared QSM values across a broad range of brain regions potentially linked to PD pathology. Additionally, the subdivision of the PD group into TD and PIGD subtypes for QSM-based iron deposition analysis represents a meaningful and innovative approach.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.394-400
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• 2017

This study investigated whether culture filtrates produced by Xylella fastidiosa can be used to determine the varietal susceptibility to Pierce's disease in grapevines (Vitis spp.) as a substitute for pathogen inoculation or field screening. A bioassay of grape leaves with culture filtrates from the pathogen showed that their phytotoxicities were active and host-selective. Ethyl acetate extracts from them also showed toxicities and host selectivity in both bunches of grapes and muscadine grapes. The sensitive range of plants to the culture filtrates and their ethyl acetate extracts was consistent with the host range of the Pierce's disease pathogen. Susceptible cultivars are sensitive to even highly diluted culture filtrates, while resistant cultivars were not affected even at their original culture filtrates. Susceptible cultivars were more sensitive to the undiluted culture filtrate than were highly diluted culture filtrates, and the younger leaves were the most sensitive to the culture filtrates in grapes. Although some European grape cultivars showed moderately susceptibility in this study, the determination of varietal resistance to Pierce's disease by the treatment of culture filtrates of pathogens could provide valuable information for the preliminary selection of genetic resources and seedlings from hybridization in a disease resistant grape breeding program.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2006

Behcet's disease (BD) is a systemic vasculitis characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, and ocular inflammation, and which may involve the joints, skin, central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract. Although the exact pathogenesis for BD is not completely understood, it has been suggested that the disease is triggered in genetically susceptible individuals by environmental factors, such as microbial agents. It is noted that multiple genes, including MHC (major histocompatibility complex) and non-MHC genes, are implicated in the pathogenesis of BD. This study tries to determine whether IL-6 gene polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to Behcet's disease in Koreans. Gene polymorphisms were typed by VNTR (variable number of tandem repeat), RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism), DHPLC (denaturing high performance liquid chromatography).There were no evidences for genetic association conferred by the IL-6prom polymorphism. However, significant differences in the IL-6vntr genotype and allele frequencies were found between patients with BD and controls. The IL-6vntr*C allele appeared to be an additional susceptibility gene to Korean BD. Further studies in other populations and gene are required to confirm these results.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.102-106
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• 2001

Currently the rice false smut caused by Ustilaginoidea virens (Cooke) Takah. has occurred widely in Korea. A survey on the disease incidence at rice fields in 8 inland provinces was carried out in 2000, showing that the disease occurred at 104 (7.5%) out of 1,152 rice fields examined, ranging from 1.5% to 13.7% in provincial average. It was found that the disease incidence was greatly affected by local weather conditions and rice cultivars. In case of the most susceptible cultivar Namchunbyeo, the disease incidence was only about 1.3% in Icheon, while it was over 20% in Namwon which had weather conditions of the shorter sunshine period (about 64%) and the higher amount of precipitation (about 130%) during the rice cultivation than Icheon. In Icheon, artificial inoculation of the pathogen failed to induce the disease, probably because of the weather conditions unfavorable to the disease development, which also suggests that its incidence may be dependent on the weather conditions. Susceptibility of rice cultivars to the disease varied greatly; eight resistant cultivars including Heukjinjubyeo were not damaged by the disease, but 2 cultivars including Geumnambyeo and Namchunbyeo were severely damaged, having more than 20% of the disease incidence. Among chemicals tested fur the control of the rice false smut tebuconazole WP showed the highest control efficacy of 83∼88% on cvs. Geumnambyeo and Namchunbyeo. Other chemicals such as azoxystrobin WP and ferimzone WP also effectively suppressed the disease development in the field trials.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.285-290
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• 1987

Septoria brown spot caused by Septoria glycines Hemmi is one of the serious fungal diseases in soybean. Since little has been known about the disease progress in the field, the present study was conducted to determine the factors affecting the disease progress in the soybean plant. Disease severity and pattern of the progress of the Septoria brown spot were different with varieties. Susceptibility of soybean plants increased with increase of plant age and leaf maturity in order from the primary leaf to the newly expanded leaf. It seemed to be related with conidial germination on the leaves. Germination and germtube elongation were more inhibited by the diffusates obtained from upper leaves than those from lower leaves and they were higher in a susceptible variety than in a moderately resistant one.