• Journal of Korean Medical classics
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.295-302
• /
• 2008

Until the middle of the 20th century, exogenous febrile disease was the most common disease that threatened the human health. For a long time, oriental medicine doctors developed many ways to cure this disease by studying pathogenic factors. The phthogenic factors and treatments of exogenous febrile disease with time are as followings. "Naegyeong(內經)" : Cold pathogen. Diaphoretic therapy, purgation therapy. Hwata : Cold pathogen. Diaphoretic therapy, emetic therapy, purgation therapy. Jangjunggyeong(張仲景) : Cold pathogen. Eight principal therapeutic methods except diaphoretic therapy with pungent and cool properties. Yuhagan(劉河間) : Fire pathogen. Diaphoretic therapy with pungent and cool properties. Idongwon(李東垣) : Improper diet and overstrain. Reinforcing therapy. Ouga(吳又可) : Epidemic pathogenic factors. Diaphoretic therapy with pungent and cool properties, Heat-reducing therapy. purgation therapy Seopcheonsa(葉天士) : Warm pathogen. diaphoretic therapy, Heat-reducing therapy, expel Heat therapy, cooling the blood and eliminating stagnation of blood. Oguktong(吳鞠通) : Six pathogenic factors. Eight principal therapeutic methods including diaphoretic therapy with pungent and cool properties.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.390-397
• /
• 2019

High risk-human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) is known to be a major cause of cervical cancer, and coinfection of sexually transmitted pathogen (STP) has been reported to cause persistent HPV infection. However, the relationship between HPV and STP coinfection remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to analyze the coinfection rate with STP in high-risk human papillomavirus infected women in Busan and to collect basic data for the prevention of cervical lesions. This study was carried out in 355 women who had concurrent HPV and STP screening at Busan local hospital between January 2016 and December 2017. HPV and STP coinfection was found in 187 (52.7%) out of 355 cases. HR-HPV and STP coinfection was 82.9% higher than LR-HPV and STP coinfections 17.1%. In HR-HPV infection, Ureaplasma species was the most common pathogen (47.1%), followed by C. trachomatis (21.9%) and Mycoplasma species (12.3%). In the analysis of HR-HPV genotype according to STP, HPV 16 (12.0%) was the most frequent, followed by HPV 58 (11.6%), HPV 39 (11.1%) and HPV 52 (10.2%), but HPV 18 showed a low coinfection rate of 1.3%. According to the results of age, HR-HPV and STP coinfection rate was the highest at 41.9% among women aged 18 to 29. HR-HPV and Ureaplasma species showed the highest coinfection rates at all ages, followed by C. trachomatis and Mycoplasma species. Further studies with more samples will be needed to determine if the coinfection of HR-HPV and STPs is involved in the development of cervical tumors through histologic changes.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.161-170
• /
• 2009

Cryptococcus neoformans is a basidiomycete human fungal pathogen that causes meningoencephalitis in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals. The ability to sense and respond to diverse extracellular signals is essential for the pathogen to infect and cause disease in the host. Four major stress-activated signaling (SAS) pathways have been characterized in C. neoformans, including the HOG (high osmolarity glycerol response), PKC/Mpk1 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase), calcium-dependent calcineurin, and RAS signaling pathways. The HOG pathway in C. neoformans not only controls responses to diverse environmental stresses, including osmotic shock, UV irradiation, oxidative stress, heavy metal stress, antifungal drugs, toxic metabolites, and high temperature, but also regulates ergosterol biosynthesis. The PKC(protein kinase C)/Mpk1 pathway in C. neoformans is involved in a variety of stress responses, including osmotic, oxidative, and nitrosative stresses and breaches of cell wall integrity. The $Ca^{2+}$/calmodulin- and Ras-signaling pathways also play critical roles in adaptation to certain environmental stresses, such as high temperature and sexual differentiation. Perturbation of the SAS pathways not only impairs the ability of C. neoformans to resist a variety of environmental stresses during host infection, but also affects production of virulence factors, such as capsule and melanin. A drug(s) capable of targeting signaling components of the SAS pathway will be effective for treatment of cryptococcosis.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.528-531
• /
• 2020

Scopulariopsis brevicaulis is a widely distributed soil fungus known as a common saprotroph of biodegradation. It is also an opportunistic human pathogen that can produce various secondary metabolites. Here, we report the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence of S. brevicaulis isolated from air in South Korea. Total length of the mitochondrial genome is 28,829 bp and encoded 42 genes (15 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, and 25 tRNAs). Nucleotide sequence of coding region takes over 26.2%, and overall GC content is 27.6%. Phylogenetic trees present that S. brevicaulis is clustered with Lomentospora prolificans with presenting various mitochondrial genome length.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2005.05a
• /
• pp.40-42
• /
• 2005

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.836-843
• /
• 2004

Nontypeable H. influenzae (NTHi), a Gram-negative obligate human pathogen, causes pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, and otitis media, and the respiratory epithelium is the first line of defense that copes with the pathogen. In an effort to identify transcriptional responses of human respiratory epithelial cells to infection with NTHi, we examined its differential gene expression using high density cDNA microarrays. BEAS-2B human bronchial epithelial cells were exposed to NTHi for 3 hand 24 h, and the alteration of mRNA expression was analyzed using microarrays consisting of 8,170 human cDNA clones. The results indicated that approximately 2.6% of the genes present on the microarrays increased in expression over 2-fold and 3.8% of the genes decreased during the 24-h infection period. Upregulated genes included cytokines (granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor 2, granulocyte chemotactic protein 2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-8), transcription factors (Kruppel-like factor 7, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein $\beta$, E2F-1, NF-$\kappa$B, cell surface molecules (CD74, ICAM-1, ICAM-2, HLA class I), as well as those involved in signal transduction and cellular transport. Selected genes were further confirmed by reverse-transcription-PCR. These data expand our knowledge of host cellular responses during NTHi infection and should provide a molecular basis for the study of host-NTHi interaction.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.13-18
• /
• 2010

Past decade systemic mycoses caused by opportunistic human fungal pathogens, including Candida, Aspergillus, and Cryptococcus, have been a growing problem for both immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals. Particularly, Cryptococcus neoformans has recently emerged as a major fungal pathogen, which can cause fungal pneumonia and meningitis that are lethal if not timely medicated. However, treatment for cryptococcosis has been difficult due to a lack of proper anti-cryptococcal drugs with fungicidal activity and less toxicity. In this review we introduced novel therapeutic methods for treating cryptococcosis by exploring pathogenomic signa1ing networks of C. neoformans with genome-wide transcriptome approaches as well as diverse molecular/genetic tools.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.146-153
• /
• 2007

A mathematical competition model between normal flora and an invading pathogen was devised to allow analysis of bacterial infections in a host. The normal flora includes the various microorganisms that live on or within the host and act as a primary human immune system. Despite the important role of the normal flora, no mathematical study has been undertaken on models of the interaction between it and invading pathogens against a background of antibiotic treatment. To quantify key elements of bacterial behavior in a host, pairs of nonlinear differential equations were used to describe three categories of human health conditions, namely, healthy, latent infection, and active infection. In addition, a cutoff value was proposed to represent the minimum population level required for survival. The recovery of normal flora after antibiotic treatment was also included in the simulation because of its relation to human health recovery. The significance of each simulation parameter for the bacterial growth model was investigated. The devised simulation showed that bacterial proliferation rate, carrying capacity, initial population levels, and competition intensity have a significant effect on bacterial behavior. Consequently, a model was established to describe competition between normal flora and an infiltrating pathogen. Unlike other population models, the recovery process described by the devised model can describe the human health recovery mechanism.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.11-29
• /
• 2017

Objectives : Contemporary researches suspect that, contrary to the past belief, the understanding that the cause of warm pathogen lies in the upper portion of human body is an understanding that had been well-established even before Yetianshi. This new understanding now requires us to contemplate the process of theoretical development which this understanding, termed Onsasangsu, had taken within the boundary of the theory of warm pathogen. This paper aims to shed light on this within the framework that this is the emergence of a new theory of warm pathogen caused by a new understanding of warm pathogen. Methods : First, the theories of warm pathogen as developed by historical doctors were studied, and elements that seem to be related to the understanding of Onsasangsu were selected and studied to understand their theoretical characteristics. Furthermore, the paper studied what academic significance do these theories have on the development of the theory of warm pathogen. Results & Conclusions : Provided that the underlying assumption of Onsasangsu is that febrile diseases are caused through moutn and nose, the study showed that this understanding arose before the period of Qing Dynsasty from the need by many doctors to differentiate the pathogens of various diseases such as the disease of heat, febrile disease, and epidemic. The reason that these discussions could not have much impact on the study of febrile disease during the Qing Dynasty could be because they were not passed on down to the future generations, or because commonly held perspective was unable to accept criticisms.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.859-865
• /
• 2008

Bacterial glycosyltransferases have drawn growing attention as economical enzymes for oligosaccharide synthesis, with their easy expression and relatively broad substrate specificity. Here, we characterized a glycosyltransferase homolog (Fnu_GT) from a human oral pathogen, Fusobacterium nucleatum. Bioinformatic analysis showed that Fnu_GT belongs to the glycosyltransferases family II. The recombinant Fnu_GT (rFnu_GT) expressed in Escherichia coli displayed the highest glycosylation activity when UDP-galactose (Gal) was used as a donor nucleotide-sugar with heptose or N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) as an acceptor sugar. Interestingly, rFnu_GT transferred the galactose moiety of UDP-Gal to a nonreducing terminal GlcNAc attached to the trimannosyl core glycan, indicating its potential as an enzyme for human-type N-glycan synthesis.