• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.173-180
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• 2008

The human genome has evolved as a consequence of evolutionary forces, such as natural selection. In this study, we investigated natural selection on the human genes by comparing the numbers of nonsynonymous (NS) and synonymous (S) mutations in individual genes. We initially collected all coding SNP data of all human genes from the public dbSNP. Among the human genes, we selected 3 different selection groups of genes: positively selected genes (NS/S${\geq}$3), negatively selected genes (NS/S${\leq}$1/3) and neutral selection genes (0.9

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.395-408
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• 2013

Environmental condition can induce changes in early life-history traits in order to maximise the ecological fitness. Here I investigated how temperature change and variation in human aquatic activity/behaviour affect early life-history consequences in fish using a dynamic-state-dependent model. In this study, I developed a general fish's life-history model including three life-history states depend-ing on foraging activity, such as body mass, mass of reproductive tissue (i.e., gonadal development) and accumulated stress (i.e., cellular or physiological damage). I assumed the level of foraging activity maximises reproductive success-ultimately, fitness. The model predicts that growth rate, development of reproductive tissues and damage accumulation are greater in higher temperature whereas higher human aquatic activity rapidly reduced the growth rate and development of reproductive tissue and increased damage accumulation. While higher foraging activity in higher temperature is less affected by human aquatic activity, the foraging activity in lower temperature rapidly declined with human aquatic activity. Moreover, lower survival rate in higher temperature or human aquatic activity was independent on mortality rate due to human aquatic activity or mortality rate when foraging activity, respectively. However, the survival rate in lower temperature or human aquatic activity was dependent on these mortality rates. My findings suggest that including of early life-history traits in relation to climate-change and human aquatic activity on the analysis may improve conservation plan and health assessment in aquatic ecosystem.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.743-748
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• 2006

The complement (C) regulatory proteins decay accelerating factor (DAF, CD55) and CD59 could protect host cells using different mechanisms from C-mediated damage at two distinct levels within the C pathway. Co-expression of DAF and CD59 would be an effective strategy to help overcome host C-induced xenograft hyperacute rejection. In this study, we made a construct of recombinant expression vector containing DAF and CD59 cDNA and the stable cell lines were obtained by G418 selection. Extraneous genes integration and co-expression were identified by PCR, RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Human c-mediated cytolysis assays showed that NIH/3T3 cells transfected stably with pcDNA3-CD59, pcDNA3-DAF, and pcDNA3-CD59DAF-DP were protected from C-mediated damage and that synchronously expressed human CD59 and DAF provided the most excellent protection for host cells as compared with either human CD59 or DAF expressed alone. Therefore, the construct represents an effective and efficacy strategy to overcome C-mediated damage in cells and, ultimately, in animals.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.11-38
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• 2009

"Bioethics" may have various meanings depending on its roles. It may mean professional ethics for scientists and physicians, etc. It may also mean an academic discipline using interdisciplinary approach as well as a philosophical or a legal approach. "Bioethics" as an interdisciplinary study should often deal with public policy on bioethical issues. I call this role bioethics as a study of bioethics policy, which has to be developed as a new discipline. From this perspective, I deal with bioethical issues relevant to a human life before birth. There are various and often conflicting arguments about the moral status of a human life before birth such as the fertilization argument, the argument of genetic identity, so-called the "14 days" argument focusing on the formation of primitive streak, the argument of sentient being, and Michael Sandle's argument of an embryo as a being between a thing and a person. I argue that each of them is reasonable. Thus we are faced with reasonable disagreement on the views over whether a human life before birth has the same right to life as that of a person or whether right to life may be considered to be a matter of degree. If we acknowledge reasonable disagreement, as John Rawls pointed out, we should tolerate the views from ours in a plural society. Therefore, we cannot help making a policy that allows abortion and embryonic research with some limitations. When we say a certain act is morally permissible, "moral permissibility" does not mean that the act is morally right for all. Rather it means that the act cannot help being morally allowed for some persons although the others do not believe its moral rightness because they cannot right now rationally persuade others to accept their view.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.469-481
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• 2023

The gut microbiome is widely recognized as a dynamic organ with a profound influence on human physiology and pathology. Extensive epidemiological and longitudinal cohort studies have provided compelling evidence that disruptions in the early-life microbiome can have long-lasting health implications. Various factors before, during, and after birth contribute to shaping the composition and function of the neonatal and infant microbiome. While these alterations can be partially restored over time, metabolic phenotypes may persist, necessitating research to identify the critical period for early intervention to achieve phenotypic recovery beyond microbiome composition. In this review, we provide current understanding of changes in the gut microbiota throughout life and the various factors affecting these changes. Specifically, we highlight the profound impact of early-life gut microbiota disruption on the development of diseases later in life and discuss perspectives on efforts to recover from such disruptions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8155-8159
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• 2014

Background: Breast cancer is the serious health concern in India causing the highest mortality rate in females, which occurs due to uncontrolled cell division and can be metastasize to other parts of the human body. Interactions with estrogen receptor (ER) alpha are mainly responsible for the malignant tumors with regulation of the transcription of various genes as a transcription factor. Most of the drugs currently used for the breast cancer treatment produce various side effects and hence we focused on natural compounds which do not exhibit any toxic effect against normal human cells. Materials and Methods: Structure of human ER was retrieved from the Protein Data Bank and the structures of flavonoid compounds have been collected from PubChem database. Molecular docking and drug likeness studies were performed for those natural compounds to evaluate and analyze the anti-breast cancer activity. Results: Finally two compounds satisfying the Lipinski's rule of five were reported. The two compounds also exhibited highest binding affinity with human ER greater than 10.5 Kcal/mol. Conclusions: The results of this study can be implemented in the drug designing pipeline.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1106-1109
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• 2008

The anti-Helicobacter pylori activity, cytotoxicity, and anti-inflammatory activity of white ginseng extract (WGE) were investigated in vitro in this study. The antimicrobial effects of WGE toward H. pylori strains 52 J99, SSI, and 51 were tested using the disk diffusion method. Among these H. pylori strains, H. pylori 52 was the most sensitive, having the largest inhibition zone (19 mm), followed by J99, SSI, and 51. The zone of inhibition due to WGE increased significantly with increasing dosage. The cytotoxicity of WGE toward the human cancer cell lines A-549 (human lung carcinoma), HEC-1-B (human endometrial adenocarcinoma), HeLa (human uterin adenocarcinoma), and SW-156 (human kidney carcinoma) was measured using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthizol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenylate-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. WGE exhibited an inhibitory effect on cell growth at 2.0 mg/mL for all tumor cell lines. An analysis of anti-inflammatory activity using the RAW 264.7 cell line showed that the inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production increased as the WGE content increased. These results demonstrate the potential of WGE to be used as a health-promoting substance.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2001

Human nature, life, mind and spirit have very important meanings for Oriental medical science. This is because understanding human mind and spirit not only makes treatment of people easier and more accessible but also provides us a clue for finding out something we lost. As a consequence of investigating various classic books by ancient medical practitioners and Taoist scholars s as follows: l. Mind and spirit were valued very highly in Oriental medical science, and this can be found in classic books like , , , and . 2. To cure people, acquirement of detailed knowledge of mind and spirit should be preceded. 3. The Taoist school regarded mind, spirit, human nature and life as critical agents of health care and perceived that they were indispensable for going back to The Great Emptiness(Nothingness before the First Cause), the ultimate goal of Taoist learning. 4. Although human nature, life, mind and spirit have different names and different users, it is like theory and practice and we can see that ancient sages used them all in the same context of natural law.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.83-94
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to analyze the positive effect of family leisure in human life. We adopted ecological-system approach, theory of structure to family life and analyzed meaning of leisure through the interdisplinary approaches. Family leisure has not only positive effect on home but also it’s subsystem. Consequently, family leisure as vital power of living contributes to the advancement of life quality.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.851-860
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• 2021

Label-free optical diffraction tomography (ODT), an imaging technology that does not require fluorescent labeling or other pre-processing, can overcome the limitations of conventional cell imaging technologies, such as fluorescence and electron microscopy. In this study, we used ODT to characterize the cellular organelles of three different stem cells-namely, human liver derived stem cell, human umbilical cord matrix derived mesenchymal stem cell, and human induced pluripotent stem cell-based on their refractive index and volume of organelles. The physical property of each stem cell was compared with that of fibroblast. Based on our findings, the characteristic physical properties of specific stem cells can be quantitatively distinguished based on their refractive index and volume of cellular organelles. Altogether, the method employed herein could aid in the distinction of living stem cells from normal cells without the use of fluorescence or specific biomarkers.