• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.14-25
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• 2008

To investigate the 3-bond connectivity of human brain metabolites by scalar coupling interaction through 2D-correlation spectroscopy (COSY) techniques using high field NMR spectroscopy. All NMR experiments were performed at 298K on Unity Inova 500 or 600 (Varian Inc.) equipped with a triple resonance probe head with z-shield gradient. Human brain metabolites were prepared with 10% $D_2O$. Two dimensional 2D COSY spectra were acquired with 4096 complex data points in $t_2$ and 128 or 256 increments in $t_1$ dimension. The spectral width was 9615.4 Hz and solvent suppression was achieved using presaturation using low power irradiation of the water resonance during 2s of relaxation delay. NMR data were processed using VNMRJ (Varian Instrument) software and all the chemical shifts were referenced to the methyl resonance of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) peak at 2.0 ppm. Total 10 metabolites such as N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), choline (Cho), glutamine (Gln), glutamate (Glu), myo-inositol (Ins), lactate (Lac), taurine (Tau), ${\gamma}$-aminobutyricacid (GABA), alanine (Ala) were included for major target metabolites. Symmetrical 2D-COSY spectra were successfully acquired. Total 14 COSY cross peaks were observed even though there were parallel/orthogonal noisy peaks induced by water suppression. Except for Cr, all of human brain metabolites produced COSY cross peaks. The spectra of NAA methyl proton at 2.02 ppm and Glu methylene proton ($CH_2(3)$) at 2.11 ppm and Gln methylene proton ($CH_2(3)$) at 2.14 ppm were overlapped in the similar resonance frequency between 2.00 ppm and 2.15 ppm. The present study demonstrated that in vitro 2D-COSY represented the 3-bond connectivity of human brain metabolites by scalar coupling interaction. This study could aid in better understanding the interactions between human brain metabolites in vivo 2D-COSY study. Also it would be helpful to determine the molecular stereochemistry in vivo by using two-dimensional MR spectroscopy.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2006

Purpose: It is well known from clinical experience that acute complications of chemoradiation therapy vary from patients to patients. However, there are no known factors to predict these acute complications before treatment starts. The human XRCC1 gene is known as a DNA base excision repair gene. We investigated the possibilities of XRCC1 gene polymorphisms as a predictor for the acute complications of chemoradiation therapy in colorectal cancer patients. Materials and Methods: From July 1997 to June 2003, 86 colorectal cancer patients (71 rectal cancer, 13 sigmoid colon cancer and 2 colon cancer patients) were treated with chemoradiation therapy at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Inha University Hospital. Twenty-two patients were in stage B, 50 were in stage C, 8 were in stage D and 6 patients were unresectable cases. External radiation therapy was delivered with 10MV X-ray at a 1.8 Gy fraction per day for a total dose of radiation of $30.6{\sim}59.4 Gy$ (median: 54 Gy). All the patients received 5-FU based chemotherapy regimen. We analyzed the acute complications of upper and lower gastrointestinal tract based on the RTOG complication scale. The initial and lowest WBC and platelet count were recorded during both the RT period and the whole treatment period. Allelic variants of the XRCC1 gene at codons 194, 280 and 399 were analyzed in the lymphocyte DNA by performing PCR-RFLP. Statistical analyses were carried out with the SAS (version 6.12) statistical package. Results: When all the variables were assessed on the multivariate analysis, recurrent disease revealed the factors that significantly correlated with upper gastrointestinal acute complications. Arg399Gln polymorph isms of the XRCC1 gene, the radiation dose and the frequencies of chemotherapy during radiation therapy were significantly correlated with lower gastrointestinal complications. Arg399Gln polymorph isms also affected the decrease of the WBC and platelet count during radiation therapy. Conclusion: Although the present sample size was too small for fully evaluating this hypothesis, this study suggests that Arg399Gln polymorph isms of the XRCC1 genes may be used as one of the predictors for acute complications of chemoradiation therapy in colorectal cancer patients.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 1998

A carotenoprotein from the muscle of Ascidian (Halocynthia roretzi) was purified by ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography, and analyzed molecular weight, stability of pH and heat, effect of denaturing agents, amino acids and fatty acids composition. The purified carotenoprotein had absorption maxima of 463 nm and 439 nm. The carotenoprotein had an approxmimate molecular weight of 64.4 kDa in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The amino acid compositions of carotenoprotein were mainly Gly (15.39%), Asn (11.31%), Gln (10.62%) and Ser (13.35%). The major fatty acids composition of carotenoprotein were $C_{16:1(n-7)}\;(15.4%)$, $C_{22:1(n-9)}\;(14.5%)$ and $C_{20:1(n-11)}\;(11.4%)$. The monounsaturated fatty acids (45.2%) contained abundant content compared to other saturated (38.1%) and polyunsaturated (11.7%) fatty acids.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.189-193
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• 2013

Many epidemiological studies in Asian populations have investigated associations between the Arg399Gln gene polymorphism of X-ray repair cross complementing gene 1 (XRCC1) and risk of cervical carcinoma, but no conclusions have been available because of controversial results. Therefore a meta-analysis was conducted for clarification. Relevant studies were identified by searching the Pubmed, Embase, the Web of Science, Cochrane Collaboration's database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database and China Biological Medicinse (CBM) until September, 2012. A total of eight studies were included in the present meta-analysis, which described 1,759 cervical carcinoma cases and 2,497 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) as effect size were calculated by fixed-effect or random-effect models. The overall results indicated that the XRCC1-399G/A polymorphism was marginally associated with cervical carcinoma in Asians: OR (95%CI): 1.16 (1.07, 1.26) in the G/A vs G/G inheritance model, 1.24 (0.87, 1.76)in A/A vs G/G inheritance model, 1.13 (1.01, 1.27) in the dominant inheritance model and 1.18 (0.94, 1.47) in the recessive inheritance model. Subgroup analyses on sample size showed no significant correlation in the small-sample size group but the large-sample size group was consistent with the outcomes of overall meta-analysis. In the subgroup analysis by regions, we only found significant association under the G/A vs G/G inheritance model in the Chinese population. For the non-Chinese populations, no correlation was detected in any genetic inheritance model. In the Asian populations, XRCC1-399G/A gene polymorphism was implied to be associated with cervical carcinoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.6111-6116
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• 2015

Background: Stomach cancer is one of leading causes of death worldwide. In Thailand, the incidence and mortality of stomach cancer are in the top ten for cancers. Effects of DNA repair gene X-ray repair cross complementary protein 1 (XRCC1) polymorphisms and clinicopathological characteristics on survival of stomach cancer in Thailand have not been previously reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of XRCC1 gene and clinicopathological characteristics on survival of stomach cancer patients in Thailand. Materials and Methods: Data and blood samples were collected from 101 newly diagnosed stomach cancer cases pathologically confirmed and recruited during 2002 to 2006 and followed-up for vital status until 31 October 2012. Genotype analysis was performed using real-time PCR-HRM. The data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method to yield cumulative survival curve, log-rank test to assess statistical difference of survival and Cox proportional hazard models to estimate adjusted hazard ratio. Results: The total followed-up times were 2,070 person-months, and the mortality rate was 4.3 per 100 person-months. The median survival time after diagnosis was 8.07 months. The cumulative 1-, 3-, 5-years survival rates were 40.4%, 15.2 % and 10.1 % respectively. After adjustment, tumour stage were associated with an increased risk of death (p= 0.036). The XRCC1 Gln339Arg, Arg/Arg homozygote was also associated with increased risk but statistically this was non-significant. Conclusions: In addition to tumour stage, which is an important prognostic factor affecting to the survival of stomach cancer patients, the genetic variant Gln339Arg in XRCC1 may non-significantly contribute to risk of stomach cancer death among Thai people. Larger studies with different populations are need to verify ours findings.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.1635-1641
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• 1999

Bacillus subtilis PCA20-3 was isolated from meju and was found to produce a protease. The strain produced the maximum amount of enzyme in the medium containing soytone (0.2%), soluble starch (2%), $(NH_4)_2SO_4\;(0.1%),\;CaCl_2(0.1%),\;yeast\;extract\;(0.01%),\;K_2HPO_4\;(0.1%),\;and\;KH_2PO_4\;(0.1%)$. Protease was first concentrated by ammonium sulfate (80% saturation, w/v) precipitation of culture supernatant. Then the enzyme was purified by column chromatography using CM Sephadex C-50. The collected proteins were rechromatographed using Sephadex G-100 gel filtration column. The fraction with protease active from Sephadex G-100 gel chromatography was found to be pure when examined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and YMC-pak reverse phase chromatography. Specific activity, yield and purity were 76 U/mg. 2.7%, and 7.6 fold, respectively. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 31.5 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The number of amino acids calculated from molecular weight was evaluated about 321 residues. N-terminal sequence of the enzyme was $Val^1-Pro^2-Tyr^3-Gly^4-Val^5-Ser^6-Gln^7-Gly^8-Lys^9-Ala^{10}$.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.684-687
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• 2009

Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni, the causal agent of bacterial shot holes in stone fruits, was known to have a low population diversity. To investigate the genetic characteristics of X. arboricola pv. pruni isolated in Korea, three strains which have identical 16S rDNA sequences - including type strain (LMG852), Japanese isolate (MAFF301420) and Korean isolate (XWD1) - were analysed based on the nucleotide sequences of three DNA regions and RAPD pattern. No sequence diversity among the three strains was found within the ITS, glnA and atpD gene sequences. However, five of 756 nucleotides of the atpD gene determined (accession number FJ429319) were different from those of the French strain available from the Genbank database. RAPD analyses performed with 40 different arbitrary primers revealed that two strains isolated from Korea and Japan showed similarity in their band patterns distinguished by type strain. These results suggest that Korean and Japanese strains are very close and belong to a population with a low genetic diversity, and might have a different origin from strains found in West Europe.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2013

A bacterium producing a fibrinolytic enzyme was isolated from Cheonggukjang. The bacterium was identified as a strain of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens by 16S rDNA analysis and designated as B. amyloliquefaciens HC188. The optimum culture medium appeared to be one containing 0.5% (w/v) maltose and 0.5% (w/v) soytone. Bacterial growth in the optimal medium at $37^{\circ}C$ reached the stationary phase after 27 h of incubation and the fibrinolytic enzyme showed optimum activity at 24 h. The enzyme was purified by 20-80% ammonium sulfate precipitation, CM Sepharose fast flow ion exchange chromatography, and Sephacryl S-200HR column chromatography. Its specific activity was 38359.3 units/mg protein and the yield was 5.5% of the total activity of the crude extracts. The molecular weight was 24.7 kDa and the amino acids of the N-terminal sequence were AQSVPYGVSQIKAPA. The fibrinolytic enzyme activity had an optimum temperature of $40^{\circ}C$ and an optimum pH of 8.0, and the enzyme was stable in the ranges $20-40^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.0-8.0. Enzyme activity was increased by $Ca^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$ but inhibited by $Cu^{2+}$, EDTA, and PMSF. It is suggested that the purified enzyme is a metallo-serine protease.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.105-109
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• 2017

Urotensin-2 receptor (UTS2R) is the most potent vasoconstrictor and plays a major role in the pathophysiology of various cardiovascular diseases and becomes a potential target for human pharmacotherapy. Hence, we have performed molecular docking of six antagonists with different inhibitory activity against UTS2R into its binding site. The binding mode of these antagonists was obtained using Surflex dock program interfaced in Sybyl-X2.0. The residues such as GLN278, THR304, TYR305, THR300, LEU299, CYS302, ASP47, TYR100 and THR304 are found in interaction between UTS2R and its antagonists. This study could be useful for identifying and analyzing the important residues involved in binding site of UTS2R receptor.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.225-231
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• 2006

Fibrinolytic enzyme was purified from the fruiting bodies of Lepista nuda, using DEAE-Cellulose chromatography, Phenyl Sepharose chromatography, and Mono-S column chromatography. The substance has a molecular weight of 30006.62 Da as measured by MALD-TOF mass spectrometry. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the enzyme was Tyr-Pro-Ser-Pro-Ser-His-Gln-Thr-Ala-Val-Asn-Ala-Ile-Ile-X. The activity of the enzyme was inhibited by PMSF, indicating that the enzyme is a serine protease. No inhibition was found with E-64, pepstatin, and EDTA. It has broad substrate specificity for synthetic peptides. The enzyme was stable up to $30^{\circ}C$. The enzyme hydrolyzes both Aa and y chains of human fibrinogen but did not show any reactivity for $B{\beta}$ chain of human fibrinogen.