• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.412-416
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• 2011

Taste sensation plays a crucial role in selecting and ingesting foods with different qualities which convey information about their nutrient content and/or safety. Sweetness is one of the five modalities in humans and serves as an energy resource for metabolism. There are reports on allelic polymorphisms which influence perception of sweetness in mice and humans. Since the influence of genetic factors on taste disorder has not been studied, we investigated the association of genetic polymorphisms in TAS1R3 and guanine nucleotide binding protein, alpha transducing 3 (GNAT3) genes and taste disorder. A total of 150 individuals composed of 50 patients with taste disorder and 100 healthy controls were recruited for the study and PCR-mediated directing sequencing method was used to genotype for two different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) - rs307355 (T>C) and rs35744813 (T>C) in the TAS1R3 gene, and rs7792845 (T>C) and rs1524600 (C>T) in the the GNAT3 gene. The allele and genotype frequencies of rs307355 and rs35744813 in the TAS1R3 gene showed a significant association between patients with taste disorder (p=0.022 and p=0.013 in both of SNPs, respectively). In addition, the frequency of T-T haplotype in the TAS1R3 gene was higher in taste disorder cases than in the controls (OR, 1.93: 95%. CI, 1.09-3.39, p=0.022). In the GNAT3, the genotype frequency of rs7792845 in the patients was also different from the controls (p=0.048), but allele frequency was not significantly associated in either group. Our result provides the frequencies of SNPs and haplotypes of the TAS1R3 and GNAT3 genes for the fundamental information of nutrigenetics in perception of the taste of sweetness in the Korean population. Also, the study suggests that the allelic polymorphisms of TAS1R3 and GNAT3 genes may be useful as a molecular marker for evaluating patients with taste disorder. Further studies with large samples are required to clarify our observation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1168-1175
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• 2017

Probiotics are usually defined as intestinal bacteria that provide healthy benefit to the host and may offer new therapeutic materials for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Enterococcus are known as typical probiotics. But, these bacteria have mostly a weak viability and thus decreased probiotics-mediated effects in the intestinal tract. Asthma is an inflammatory airway disease, which is characterized by the releases of inflammatory mediators including cytokine and IgE. They are mainly associated with the recruitment, activation and disregulation of specific inflammatory cells, especially mast cells, monocytes, T cells, eosinophils and neutrophils in asthma. We performed these studies as in vitro and in vivo test the human inflammatory cell lines and ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthma mouse model. And then the inhibitory effects of Enterococcus faecalis whole extract on inflammatory responses were examined. For our examinations, the E. faecalis whole extract (Ef extract) was acquired from whole bacteria of E. faecalis using freeze/thawing after ultrasonication method. As results, OVA-mediated THP-1 cell viability was decreased by the treatment of Ef extract. In the asthmatic mouse model, Ef extract inhibited the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the inflammatory sites and blood. This whole extract may have anti-asthmatic effects associated with the regulation of IL-5 and IgE expression. It may also be a promising candidate in anti-allergic medicine for the treatment of asthma.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.175-184
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• 2000

This study which applies to the 403 healthy people who don't have particular diseases recently(193 urban aged. 210 rural aged) among male and female aged over 60 years old living in Daegu(city) and Gyungbook(agricultural village) is fulfilled from November 1st to December 31st by interview using the questioned paper which researcher developed, and reached to these tallowing conclusions. 1. Every aged men independent of the place residence answered positively yes but aged women had weak assurance of their health. Especially $38.6\%$ of rural aged women said yes and $51.4\%$ of rural aged women said no. 2. In the sleep and well-regulated life, urban and rural aged generally marked on the sound sleep. Compared with male and female, men answered they had better sleep and regulated life than women. 3. The percentage of the urban and rural aged's judgement on their activity was high and the percentage of the rural aged was lower than the percentage of the urban aged. 4. While $62.6\%$ of urban aged answered they were active. $38.6\%$ of rural female aged answered yes, This shows that the rural female aged regard their health is not good. 5. Compared with same generation. urban aged ranked lower than urban aged in the confidence of physical strength. Especially rural need women answered $42.1\%$ of them were weaker than the same generation. This shows that rural aged women don't have confidence in general physical activities. 6. Taking exercises three times a week which can influence on health cue to sixties and seventies aged ranked $26.1\%$, rarely do is $18.8\%$ and never do is$28.8\%$. Urban and rural aged do not exercise on the purpose of health. 7. The reason of exercise was to advance the physical strength and quality of motion$(34.9\%)$ to get rid of stress$(13.4\%)$ and to prevention of adult illness$(27.8\%)$, prevention of fatness$(15.3\%)$. Aged have a correct understanding that exercise can promote health and protect from the diseases of adult people because the items about the diseases of adult people was marked high. 8. Among the subject of total investigation, 209 persons answered. It showed necessary to recognize that the exercise is still important essential part between adult illness and health care. 9. The $67.7\%$ of urban aged men answered yes in the question of undergoing a physical examination but the rate of not undergoing a physical examination was high in rural aged and urban aged women. According to this, there were the difference of consciousness about health between urban and rural aged. and men and women. 10. Among the people who haying undergone the physical examination, $80.3\%$ of the aged went back to the hospital again because of the result. 11. In the case of stroke, most aged answered the would be placed under medical care. but $53.9\%$ of rural aged women answered they would rely on Chinese medicine. According to this. aged preferred Chinese medicine in some particular diseases. 2. The $58.1\%$ of whole object of this study answered that stroke would be recovered.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.457-461
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• 2010

Familial hypokalemic periodic paralysis (HOKPP) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by reversible flaccid paralysis and intermittent hypokalemia. Although it has been reported that decreased activity in the $K_{ATP}$ channels of the skeletal muscle cell membrane plays a role in the pathogenesis of HOKPP, a clear mechanism has not yet been established. This study aimed to investigate the molecular biological mechanism underlying the decreased activity of $K_{ATP}$ channels in the skeletal muscles of familial HOKPP patients by studying the levels of the $K_{ATP}$ channel subunit Kir6.2. We found that when cells obtained from healthy individuals (normal cells) and HOKPP patients (patient cells) were treated with 4 mM potassium buffer, there was no quantitative change in the KCNJ11 mRNA levels and no difference in the Kir6.2 protein expression in the cytosol and cell membrane. On the other hand, when 1 mM potassium buffer was used, normal cells showed decreased expression of KCNJ11 mRNA as well as decreased expression of Kir6.2 protein in the cell membrane. However, patient cells treated with the same buffer showed no quantitative change in the levels of KCNJ11 mRNA or in the levels of Kir6.2 protein in the cytosol and cell membrane. Thus, in HOKPP patients, the Kir6.2 protein cannot be transported from the cell membrane to the cytosol, leading to closure of the $K_{ATP}$ channels, induction of depolarization, and subsequently, to the paralytic symptoms observed in the patient. Our findings thus provide new insights into the pathogenesis of HOKPP.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.291-297
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• 2008

We investigated whether 1) the combined capsaicin (75 mg), sesamin (30 mg), and L-carnitine (900 mg) (CCSC) ingestion enhances autonomic nervous system (ANS) activities including thermogenic sympathetic activity as energy metabolic modulator, 2) ${\beta}_3-AR$ polymorphism of each subject influences with ANS activity. Seven healthy males $(22.0{\pm}0.5\;yr)$ volunteered for this study. The cardiac autonomic nervous activities evaluated by means of heart rate variability of power spectral analysis were continuously measured during 5 min every 30 min for total 120 min resting condition with CCSC or placebo oral administration chosen at random. The results indicated that, there are not $Arp/Arg^{64}$ variants of the ${\beta}_3-AR$ genotypes in our subjects. There were not also significant differences in heart rate during rest between both trials. The difference of ANS activity did not reach the statistical significance between both trials. However, the significant improvement showed TOTAL power, HF component, and the indices of SNS and PNS activities before and at 30 min after CCSC ingestion (p<0.05, respectively). In conclusions, although each component of combined CCSC is associated with lipolysis and/or fat oxidation, the combined CCSC consumption is not influenced in stimulation of thermogenic sympathetic activity as modulator of energy metabolism. In rather, our results suggested that CCSC ingestion improves the balance of both SNS and PNS activities. Therefore, it will be considered many combined nutrient components for ergogenic and/or lipolysis effects as well as genetic variants affecting ANS activity in further studies.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.710-720
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• 2013

Radiotherapy is commonly used in treating many kinds of cancers which cannot be cured by other therapeutic strategies. However, radiotherapy also induces the damages on the normal tissues. Radiation-induced fibrosis is frequently observed in the patients undergoing radiotherapy, and becomes a major obstacle in the treatment of intrahepatic cancer. Hedgehog (Hh) that is an essential in the liver formation during embryogenesis is not detected in the healthy liver, but activated and modulates the repair process in damaged livers in adult. The expression of Hh increases with the degree of liver damage, regulating the proliferation of hepatic progenitors and hepatic stellate cells (HSC). In addition, Hh induces epithelial-to-mesencymal transition (EMT) and activation of myofibroblasts. In the irradiated livers, up-regulated expression of Hh signaling was associated with proliferation of progenitors, EMT induction, and increased fibrosis. Female-specific expression of Hh leaded to the expansion of progenitors and the accumulation of collagen in the irradiated livers of female mice, indicating that gender disparity in Hh expression may be related with radiation-susceptibility in female. Hence, Hh signaling becomes a novel object of studies for fibrogenesis induced by radiation. However, the absence of the established experimental animal models showing the similar physiopathology with human liver diseases and fibrosis-favorable microenvironment hamper the studies for the radiation-induced fibrosis, providing a few descriptive results. Therefore, further research on the association of Hh with radiation-induced fibrosis can identify the cell and tissue-specific effects of Hh and provides the basic knowledge for underlying mechanisms, contributing to developing therapies for preventing the radiation-induced fibrosis.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.349-357
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• 2010

Purpose : Transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) is usually benign and improves within 72 hours. However, it can also progress to prolonged tachypnea over 72 hours, profound hypoxemia, respiratory failure, and even death. The aim of this study is to find predictable risk factors and describe the clinical courses and outcomes of prolonged TTN (PTTN). Methods : The medical records of 107 newborns, >$35^{+0}$ weeks of gestational age with TTN, who were admitted to the NICU at Seoul Asan Medical Center from January 2001 to September 2007 were reviewed. They were divided into 2 groups based on duration of tachypnea. PTTN was defined as tachypnea ${\geq}72$ hours of age, and simple TTN (STTN) as tachypnea <72 hours of age. We randomly selected 126 healthy-term newborns as controls. We evaluated neonatal and maternal demographic findings, and various clinical factors. Results : Fifty-five infants (51%) with total TTN were PTTN. PTTN infants had grunting, tachypnea >90/min, $FiO_2$ >0.4, and required ventilator care more frequently than STTN infants. PTTN had lower level of serum total protein and albumin than STTN. The independent predictable risk factors for PTTN were grunting, maximal respiration rate >90/min, and $FiO_2$ >0.4 within 6 hours of life. Conclusion : When a newborn has grunting, respiration rate >90/min, and oxygen requirement >0.4 of $FiO_2$ within 6 hours of life, the infant is at high risk of having persistent tachypnea ${\geq}72$ hours. We need further study to find the way to reduce PTTN.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2016

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a foodservice and cooking program for children attending community child centers in Korea. The foodservice and cooking program included a reference menu, nutrition and hygiene class for foodservice managers, as well as cooking classes for children during the winter or summer vacation in 2015. In order to evaluate the program, a survey was conducted before and after the program. A total of 1,120 children who participated in the program completed questionnaires regarding eating behaviors, food intake, and their opinions and levels of satisfaction with the program. The scores of children's eating behaviors increased significantly from 59.71 to 63.62 out of 85 points (p<0.001). A significant increase was detected in children's food intake. Vegetable intake, which received the lowest scores, increased significantly from 3.63 to 3.81 out of 5 points (p<0.001). The score for opinions and satisfaction concerning the program was 28.34 out of 35 points. These results suggest that the foodservice and cooking program could be helpful in promoting healthy food habits in children attending community child centers.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.587-599
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare abdomen-fat rate, life style and social-support between normal weight women and obese women. Method: 304 women objectives from their 30 to 59 years of age were selected living in Je-chon city, Chung-Buck province and their height and weight were measured from April 1st to June 30th, 2003. Data were classified into low-weight group ($18.5kg/m^2$), normal-weight group ($18.5{\sim}22.9kg/m^2$), over weight group ($23{\sim}24.9kg/m^2$), and obese group ($25kg/m^2$) following the Korean Conference of Obesity, 2001. in which 119 people in the normal weight group and 91 people in the obese group, i.e. total 210 people were analyzed in sequence. Using SPSS Win 10.1 Program, frequency and percentile, and by ANOVA, $X^2-test$ and t-test were treated. Results: The average age of obese women was 46.68 distributing 40.7% of forties and 39.6% of fifties while normal-weight women were average 41.73-year old distributing 53.8% of forties and 34.5% of thirties, which revealed aged in obese women. The body fat rate of obese women averaged $37.52{\pm}4.17%$, in which 98.9% of obese women and 21.0% of normal weight women with a more than 30% of body-fat rate resulted in a higher body-fat rate in obese women. The waists of obese women averaged $88.37{\pm}8.22cm$, in which more than 85cm showed in obese women of 68.2% and normal weight women of 7.6% indicating a higher waist-fat rate in obese women. The abdomen-fat rate of more than 0.85 of waist vs hip-fat showed 74.7% in obese women and 58.4% in normal weight women, indicating a higher abdomen-fat rate in obese women. Obese women and normal weight women showed significant differences in education level, number of children, religion, menstrual status, and mother's weight. Especially, obese women ate hotter or saltier food than normal weight women preferring meat. However, no significant differences appeared in marital status, social economic status. occupation. eating habits. smoking. drinking and physical exercise. Social support levels showed a lower rate in obese women than in normal weight women, indicating a statistically significant difference (p<.05). Observing areas of social support, obese women showed lower rates in attachment/intimacy, social integrity, opportunity of foster and confidence in value except help and instruction, which indicated a statistically significant difference (p<.05). Social support for obese women showed significant differences in age, education level, social hierarchy, religion and menstrual status. Obese women were more negative than normal weight women in health recognition, indicating a statistically significant difference (p<.01). Normal weight women showed higher health recognition when provided high social support and significantly low (p<.01) health recognition when provided low social support. However, there was no significant difference in health recognition in obese women whether high or low social support was given. The health recognition of obese women showed significant differences in age, education level, social hierarchy, number of children, menstrual status, physical exercise, eating habits, eating taste and preference of food. Conclusion: Obese women showed elder than normal-weight women, higher body-fat rate and abdomen-fat rate, lower social support, and a tendency to more negative health recognition. Therefore, providing weight-control programs for the treatment of obesity and prevention of recurrence for obese women to prevent progressing to adult disease and promote a healthy life, we suggest that better eating habits and the encouragement of regular physical exercise should be included, as well as total approachment on change of health recognition and social support would be needed.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.115-126
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• 2009

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of red ginseng on women's health-related quality of life (QOL) and sexual function. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical study was performed. The main efficacy was measured using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFl) and the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Twenty-four healthy, married women aged 30-45 years with FSFl scores below 25 were randomly divided into two groups: the red-ginseng group (N=12) and the placebo group (N=12). During the first six-week period (Study 1), each group was given red ginseng or placebo twice a day. Before the start of the second six-week period (Study 2), a crossover design was chosen with a two-week break (washout period). Interchanging the two groups after the washout period, red ginseng and placebo were given to each group. The outcomes were measured before and after each six-week period. Overall, 23 participants completed the study. In Study 1, the changes relative to the baseline in the FSFl total score were 22.50% and 22.99% for red ginseng and placebo, respectively. In Study 2, the relative changes were 8.14% for red ginseng and 6.29% for placebo. The results showed a greater improving trend in Study 1 with respect to all of the participants' sexual functions, but no significant difference was found between the groups (P=0.9567). After taking red ginseng, all the participants exhibited an improving trend in the desire domain of FSFl, but no significant difference was shown. In the measurement of SF-36, no significant difference was likewise shown. After taking red ginseng, though, all the participants exhibited an improving trend in the physical functioning (PF) domain of SF-36, with no significant difference. Moreover, there was no significant adverse event related to red ginseng. The QOL and sexual function of the study participants in the red-ginseng group were mostly improved, but no statistically significant effect of red ginseng was shown. It is supposed that this result was partly due to the affirmative impression of red ginseng in Korea. Thus, it is anticipated that a long-term clinical trial will show a significant effect of red ginseng on the QOL and sexual function.