• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.179-186
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• 2003

Human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines have been derived from human blastocysts and are expected to have far-reaching applications in regenerative medicine. The objective of this study is to improve freezing method with less cryo-injuries and best survival rates in hES cells by comparing various vitrification conditions. For the vitrifications, ES cells are exposed to the 4 different cryoprotectants, ethylene glycol (EG), 1,2-propanediol (PROH), EG with dime-thylsulfoxide (DMSO) and EG with PROH. We compared to types of vehicles, such as open pulled straw (OPS) or electron microscopic cooper grids (EM grids). Thawed hES cells were dipped into sequentially holding media with 0.2 M sucrose for 1 min, 0.1 M sucrose for 5 min and holding media for 5 min twice and plated onto a fresh feeder layer. Survival rates of vitrified hES cells were assessed by counting of undifferentiated colonies. It shows high survival rates of hES cells frozen with EG and DMSO (60.8％), or EG and PROH(65.8％) on EM grids better than those of OPS, compared to those frozen with EG alone (2.4％) or PROH alone (0％) alone. The hES cells vitrified with EM grid showed relatively constant colony forming efficiency and survival rates, compared to those of unverified hES cells. The vitrified hES cells retained the normal morphology, alkaline phosphates activity, and the expression of SSEA-3 and 4. Through RT-PCR analysis showed Oct-4 gene expression was down-regulated and embryonic germ layer markers were up-regulated in the vitrified hES cells during spontaneous differentiation. These results show that vitrification method by using EM grid supplemented with EG and PROH in hES cells may be most efficient at present to minimize cyto-toxicity and cellular damage derived by ice crystal formation and furthermore may be employed for clinical application.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.538-542
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• 2007

This study was carried out to investigate the toxicity of exopolysaccharides (EPS) from kefir toward MA104 cells and evaluate the inhibitory effects of kefir EPS on rotavirus infection. The results obtained are summarized as follows: Lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus fermentum, L. acidophilus, L. brevis) and yeasts (Candida kefyr, Cryptococcus albidus, Pichia ohmeri) were isolated and identified from kefir grain and culture. At 1% EPS, the inhibitory effects of EPS on the infection of MA-104 cells using the MTT assay were $72.52{\pm}6.48%$ for human rotavirus (KU), $36.06{\pm}7.63%$ for bovine rotavirus (NCDV), and $81.66{\pm}1.11%$ for porcine rotavirus (OSU). At 1/128% EPS, the effects were $24.98{\pm}4.58%$ for human rotavirus (KU), $4.71{\pm}6.16%$ for bovine rotavirus (NCDV), and $4.05{\pm}14.90%$ forporcine rotavirus (OSU). EPS isolated from kefir have inhibitory effects on rotaviruses of various serotypes and rotaviruses from different animals.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

Purpose: This review article provides an overview of the trends of research papers on the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria published from 1995 to 2017. Methods: All publications from 1995 to 2017 regarding kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were collected, reviewed, and classified. This review article covers the publications of the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria on experimental, clinical trials, and epidemiology studies. Results: The number of publications on kimchi over the period were 590: 385 publications in Korean and 205 publications in English. The number of publications on the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were 95 in Korean and 54 in English. The number of publications on kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were 84 and 38, respectively, in the experimental models. Ten research papers on kimchi in clinical trials and 7 publications in epidemiology were found. Kimchi or kimchi lactic acid bacteria had protective effects against oxidative stress, mutagenicity, toxicity, cancer, dyslipidemia, hypertension, immunity, and inflammation in in vitro, cellular, and in vivo animal models. Moreover, kimchi had effects on the serum lipids, intestinal microbiota, iron status, obesity, and metabolic parameters in human clinical trials. In epidemiology, kimchi had effects on hypertension, asthma, atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, cholesterol levels, and free radicals. Conclusion: This review focused on the publications regarding the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria, suggesting the future directions of studies about kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria by producing a database for an evaluation of the health benefits of kimchi.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.165-169
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• 2000

In vitro cytotoxic activities of cisplatin combined with Chungpesagan-tang or puerarin, which were treated with or without human intestinal bacteria, were measured. When cisplatin was combined with Chungpesagan-tang and its ingredient treated without intestinal bacteria, they did not affect the in vitro cytotoxicity of cisplatin against tumor cell lines. However, when cisplatin was combined with intestinal bacteria-treated Chungpesagan-tang and its ingredients, the cytotoxicities against SNU C4, L1210, A549 and P388 tumor cell lines were synergistically increased. Puerarin, which was isolated from Puerariae Radix, did not show in vitro cytotoxicity. However, its metabolite, daidzein, showed potent cytotoxicity against tumor cell lines and was synergistic by the combined usage of cisplatin. These results suggest that natural glycosides are not only prodrugs which can be transformed to active compounds by intestinal microflora, but the combined usage of cisplatin with natural components, such as daidzein, and herbal medicinal polyprescriptions, such as Chungpesagan-tang, may be a new method for prevention and minimization of the toxicity of cisplatin.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.1-8
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• 1995

In generally speaking, the purpose of Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) is to give the environment its due place in the decision-making process by clearly ealuating the environmental consequence of a proposed activity before action is taken. The introduction of conventional EIA is to be seen as an end product of a very long evolutionary process, starting with rudimentary but evolving pollution control measures for air, water, noise, land and chemicals, each governed by separate, and separately administered pieces of legislation. In EIA process, the measures of status, scoping, proposed mitigation and communication have not been very quantitative in their significancy. Of course, the determinations have uncertainity in the implications for significant impacts. To improve the determination of significant impacts, some more comprehensive methodologies of EIA has been proposed with the concepts of risk analysis in the proposed projects. The concepts of risk analysis has been introduced to the expression of human health impairment due to environmental pollutants since the early 1980's. The risk analysis being meant by the statistical significance of impact has a process quantitatively considering uncertainities and importances of ecological systems and human health as well. The process of risk analysis shows assessment, doseresponse in toxicity, exposure assessment and risk characterization. With the risk assessment, it could be suggested for the proper measurements against their anticipated risk in the EIA. This paper deals the priciples developing process and application of the risk-based analysis in EIA.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.223-228
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• 2002

The infection of parasites causes all kinds of parasitosis. The parasites that causes ophthalmic diseases are Protozoa, Nematodes, Cestodes and so on. These parasites has specific connection chains in between parasite and vector, parasite and host, host and host. If these connection chains were polluted or exposed into the worsened environments, the parasite are infected into human body which is its host. The parasite causes the destroy of organic tissues or inflammation and allergic responses by its toxicity and resistance of the host. In worst case, it might cause blindness. In order to prevent these disease, we should keep the clean and clear living environment of every human being.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2015

Vaccines are the most effective and cost-efficient method for preventing diseases caused by infectious pathogens. Despite the great success of vaccines, development of safe and strong vaccines is still required for emerging new pathogens, re-emerging old pathogens, and in order to improve the inadequate protection conferred by existing vaccines. One of the most important strategies for the development of effective new vaccines is the selection and usage of a suitable adjuvant. Immunologic adjuvants are essential for enhancing vaccine potency by improvement of the humoral and/or cell-mediated immune response to vaccine antigens. Thus, formulation of vaccines with appropriate adjuvants is an attractive approach towards eliciting protective and long-lasting immunity in humans. However, only a limited number of adjuvants is licensed for human vaccines due to concerns about safety and toxicity. We summarize current knowledge about the potential benefits of adjuvants, the characteristics of adjuvants and the mechanisms of adjuvants in human vaccines. Adjuvants have diverse modes of action and should be selected for use on the basis of the type of immune response that is desired for a particular vaccine. Better understanding of current adjuvants will help exploring new adjuvant formulations and facilitate rational design of vaccines against infectious diseases.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.45-49
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• 2008

Formaldehyde has been identified as the most prevalent cause of sick building syndrome (SBS), which has become a major social problem, especially in developing urban areas. However, studies on the molecular mechanisms associated with formaldehyde toxicity have been limited, probably because it is difficult to relate the experimental results obtained from in vitro studies to human exposure in vivo. Using polymerase chain reaction-based suppression subtractive hybridization, we recently identified 27 different formaldehyde-inducible genes including platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha gene (PDGFRA) and mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) gene which were increased significantly in both formaldehyde-exposed human trachea cells, 680.Tr, and rat tracheas. To establish a possible relationship between induction of these formaldehyde-inducible genes and symptoms of SBS, we examined expression levels of these genes in peripheral lymphocytes of residents of new apartments. Here, we report that the expression of PDGFRA and MDM2 transcripts was significantly higher in peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from 15 residents in new buildings than in seven control individuals. Our results suggest that the elevated levels of PDGFRA and MDM2 may be associated with the formaldehyde-induced pathophysiology that is closely related with SBS, and that they deserve evaluation as potential biomarkers for formaldehyde intoxication.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2012

Our previous study demonstrated that CopA3, a disulfide dimer of the coprisin peptide analogue (LLCIALRKK), has antibacterial activity. In this study, we assessed whether CopA3 caused cellular toxicity in various mammalian cell lines. CopA3 selectively caused a marked decrease in cell viability in Jurkat T, U937, and AML-2 cells (human leukemia cells), but was not cytotoxic to Caki or Hela cells. Fragmentation of DNA, a marker of apoptosis, was also confirmed in the leukemia cell lines, but not in the other cells. CopA3-induced apoptosis in leukemia cells was mediated by apoptosis inducing factor (AIF), indicating induction of a caspase-independent signaling pathway.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.123-133
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• 2015

The new formular for herbal medicine-safety classification in terms of evidence-based medicine was developed and applied to evaluate various herbal medicines in the previous study. This study is aimed to evaluate the frequently-used herbal medicines inducing toxic metabolites or reactive intermediates(RI), such as Ligusticum wallichii Franch, Angelica sinensis, Glycyrrhizae Radix, Rehmanniae Radix, based on 6 safety grades calculated from human equivalent dose(HED)-based MOS(margin of safety). HED-based MOS can be explained as the ratio of theoretical ALD(approximate lethal dose) of human as $LD_1$(lethal dose of 1%)/ clinical maximum dose as $ED_{99}$(Effective dose of 99%). The herbal medicine showing the ratio less than 1 belongs to Class 1, but the herbal medicine showing the ratio more than 500 belongs to Class 6 with the lowest toxicity. As a result, they were evaluated as class 2 for Angelica sinensis and Glycyrrhizae Radix, class 3 for Ligusticum wallichii Franch and Rehmanniae Radix. These resultant grades for 4 herbal medicines were lower than the grade expected under consideration that these herbal medicines are used very frequently in oriental clinics. These low grades would be due to their ingredients which is biotransformed to toxic metabolites.