• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.937-949
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• 2022

Health concern of dogs is the most important issue for pet owners. People who have companied the dogs long-term provide the utmost cares for their well-being and healthy life. Recently, it was revealed that the population and types of gut microbiota affect the metabolism and immunity of the host. However, there is little information on the gut microbiome of dogs. Hericium erinaceus (H. erinaceus; HE) is one of the well-known medicinal mushrooms and has multiple bioactive components including polyphenol, β-glucan, polysaccharides, ergothioneine, hericerin, erinacines, etc. Here we tested a pet food that contained H. erinaceus for improvement in the gut microbiota environment of aged dogs. A total of 18 dogs, each 11 years old, were utilized. For sixteen weeks, the dogs were fed with 0.4 g of H. erinaceus (HE-L), or 0.8 g (HE-H), or without H. erinaceus (CON) per body weight (kg) with daily diets (n = 6 per group). Taxonomic analysis was performed using metagenomics to investigate the difference in the gut microbiome. Resulting from principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) to confirm the distance difference between the groups, there was a significant difference between HE-H and CON due to weighted Unique fraction metric (Unifrac) distance (p = 0.047), but HE-L did not have a statistical difference compared to that of CON. Additionally, the result of Linear discriminate analysis of effect size (LEfSe) showed that phylum Bacteroidetes in HE-H and its order Bacteroidales increased, compared to that of CON, Additionally, phylum Firmicutes in HE-H, and its genera (Streptococcus, Tyzzerella) were reduced. Furthermore, at the family level, Campylobacteraceae and its genus Campylobacter in HE-H was decreased compared to that of CON. Summarily, our data demonstrated that the intake of H. erinaceus can regulate the gut microbial community in aged dogs, and an adequate supply of HE on pet diets would possibly improve immunity and anti-obesity on gut-microbiota in dogs.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.153-161
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• 2024

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is mainly produced in the skin by UV rays. Along with melatonin, it is a representative chronobiotic substance, and the skin plays an important role in distinguishing between day and night. However, vitamin D cannot be used directly in cosmetics because it is a vitamin that acts as a coenzyme and plays a hormonal role in regulating the expression of various types of genes. Therefore, it was to investigate the skin efficacy of provitamin D (7-dehydrocholesterol), a vitamin D precursor that can be used in cosmetics. Our findings reveal that pro vitamin D can effectively inhibit the expression of tyrosinase, the melanin-producing enzyme, thereby attenuating melanin synthesis. This skin tone regulatory effect has been corroborated in vitro using artificial skin models. Additionally, pro vitamin D demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties by suppressing the expression of TNFa and, upon conversion to vitamin D through UV exposure, it was observed to induce the production of the antimicrobial peptide CAMP (LL-37). The inhibitory effect of pro vitamin D on melanin production appears to be a result of it reducing the UV absorption capacity of melanin, thereby inducing the conversion of pro D to vitamin D. Utilizing pro vitamin D in cosmetic formulations could not only modulate skin tone and enhance skin immunity but also expect to contribute to other cutaneous benefits as anti-aging and barrier function improvement with everyday UV exposure. This multifaceted efficacy positions pro vitamin D as a promising ingredient in advancing the formulation of skin care products.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1485-1489
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• 2004

Panax ginseng is the one of best famous phytochemical plant in the world and it's various positive effects such as antioxidant, regulation of immunity are very well known. In this study, we investigated primary the cell viability and morphological change and secondary an antioxidative effect and liver function improvement of extract from Ginseng folium and stem in CCl4 intoxicated rats. The NCTC cell line were used for cell viability and sirius red staining before the animal experiment. The female Sprague-Dawley rats (90-100g) were divided into 3 groups (Normal, AC: CCl₄ treated group, GFS: CCl₄+ extract of Ginseng folium and stem treated group) and acute liver damage was developed by one time administration of CCl₄ mixture (0.5㎖/rat). The liver tissue and sera were collected and used for quantitative measurement of enzyme activity (AST, ALT, ALP, BUN), MDA and Hyp. As a result, cell viability in GFS treated group (in concentration of 3.33-33.33㎎ GFS/200㎕ medium) was 180.9-241.0% significantly and dose dependently higher than in control group. And potential state of cell growth and differentiation and no criteria of cytoplasm lysis and nucleus breaking were observed in control and GFS group. The parameters of liver function (AST and ALP) in sera of GFS group showed significantly 93% and 67.6% lower than AC group (p<0.005-0.05). And the level of ALT and BUN showed fast similar in AC group and GFS group. The concentration of MDA in liver was decreased 576.5% significantly in GFS group when compared with AC group (p<0.005). The content of Hyp in GFS group is merely lower than in AC group. In conclusion, the water extract of Ginseng folium and stem such as Ginseng radix may be possessed the antioxidative effect and improvement of liver function in CCl₄ intoxicated rats.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.467-474
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• 2014

Objective: To observe the effects of allogeneic and autologous transfusion on cellular immunity, humoral immunity and secretion of serum inflammatory factors and perforin during the perioperative period in patients with malignant tumors. Methods: A total of 80 patients (age: 38-69 years; body weight: 40-78 kg; ASA I - II) receiving radical operation for gastro-intestinal cancer under general anesthesia were selected. All the patients were divided into four groups based on the methods of infusion and blood transfusion: blank control group (Group C), allogeneic transfusion group (group A), hemodiluted autotransfusion Group (Group H) and hemodiluted autotransfusion + allogenic transfusion Group (A+H group). Venous blood was collected when entering into the surgery room ($T_0$), immediately after surgery ($T_1$) and 24h ($T_2$), 3d ($T_3$) and 7d ($T_4$) after surgery, respectively. Moreover, flow cytometry was applied to assess changes of peripheral blood T cell subpopulations and NK cells. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays were performed to determine levels of IL-2, IL-10, TNF-${\alpha}$ and perforin. Immune turbidimetry was employed to determine the changes in serum immunoglobulin. Results: Both CD3+ and NK cells showed a decrease at $T_1$ and $T_2$ in each group, among which, in group A, CD3+ decreased significantly at $T_2$ (P<0.05) compared with other groups, and CD3+ and NK cell reduced obviously only in group A at $T_3$ and $T_4$ (P<0.05). CD4+ cells and the ratio of D4+/CD8+ were decreased in groups A, C and A+H at $T_1$ and $T_2$ (P<0.05). No significant intra- and inter-group differences were observed in CD8+ of the four groups (P<0.05). IL-2 declined in group C at $T_1$ and $T_2$ (P<0.05) and showed a decrease in group A at each time point (P<0.05). Moreover, IL-2 decreased in group A + H only at $T_1$. No significant difference was found in each group at $T_1$ (P<0.05). More significant decrease in group ?? at $T_2$, $T_3$ and $T_4$ compared with group A (P<0.05), and there were no significant differences among other groups (P>0.05). IL-10 increased at $T_1$ and $T_2$ in each group (P<0.05), in which it had an obvious increase in group A, and increase of IL-10 occurred only in group A at $T_3$ and $T_4$ (P<0.05). TNF-${\alpha}$ level rose at $T_1$ (P<0.05), no inter- and intra-group difference was found in perforin in all groups (P<0.05). Compared with the preoperation, both IgG and IgA level decreased at $T_1$ in each group (P<0.05), and they declined only in Group A at $T_2$ and $T_3$ (P<0.05), and these parameters were back to the preoperative levels in other groups. No significant differences were observed between preoperative and postoperative IgG and IgA levels in each group at $T_4$ (P>0.05). No obvious inter- and intra-group changes were found in IgM in the four groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: Allogeneic transfusion during the perioperative period could obviously decrease the number of T cell subpopulations and NK cells and the secretion of stimulating cytokines and increase the secretion of inhibiting cytokines in patients with malignant tumors, thus causing a Th1/Th2 imbalance and transient decreasing in the content of plasma immune globulin. Autologous transfusion has little impact and may even bring about some improvement oo postoperative immune function in patients with tumors. Therefore, cancer patients should receive active autologous transfusion during the perioperative period in place of allogeneic transfusion.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2016

One of the most powerful health management practices is the use of antibiotics, but their use is being restricted because of health safety issues. The swine industry has been looking for various alternatives to antibiotics and increasingly considers the use of dietary factors like feed ingredients, feed additives, feed formulation practices, or feeding methods, instead of using antibiotics to improve pig health and performance. Among other alternatives to antibiotics, spray-dried plasma may be a candidate. Spray-dried plasma is a blood product that provides bioavailable nutrients and physiologically active components such as immunoglobulins, glycoproteins, growth factors, peptides, etc. It is an excellent protein source with balanced and highly digestible amino acids. Several beneficial physiological activities depend on components of spray-dried plasma, such as immune competence (antibacterial activity), modulation of microbiota and/or immune system, integrity of intestinal barrier function, etc. These beneficial effects can contribute to improvement of pig performance and health by modulation of microbiota in the digestive tract and/or immune system. Therefore, it is suggested that spray-dried plasma has great potential as an antibiotics alternative.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.761-768
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• 2016

Recently, swine production costs have increased due to increased feed cost, especially the price of corn and soybean meals. Soybean meal is traditionally an expensive ingredient, but the price of corn has dramatically increased because of increased biofuel production. This change has resulted in the swine industry looking for alternatives in order to reduce feed cost, resulting in decreased production costs. Thus, various alternatives have been used as feed ingredients to replace corn, soybean meal, or other expensive ingredients. One othercandidate may be palm kernel co-products that are a by-product of oil extraction from palm fruits. Palm kernel co-products have not been used in swine diets due to high fiber content and imbalanced amino acids compared with corn and soybean meal. However, recent studies showed that palm kernel co-products did not have any negative effects on growth performance of pigs when they replaced some proportions of corn and soybean meal. In addition, palm kernel co-products may provide some physiological properties to pigs by modifying gut microbiota and/or immunity of pigs, resulting in improvement of growth and health of pigs. Therefore, the value of palm kernel co-products were reviewed as one of the alternatives for corn, soybean meal, or other major ingredients in swine diets.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.265-275
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• 2015

Despite the increasing use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and stereotactic radiation surgery (SRS) in recent years, the biological base of these high-dose hypo-fractionated radiotherapy modalities has been elusive. Given that most human tumors contain radioresistant hypoxic tumor cells, the radiobiological principles for the conventional multiple-fractionated radiotherapy cannot account for the high efficacy of SBRT and SRS. Recent emerging evidence strongly indicates that SBRT and SRS not only directly kill tumor cells, but also destroy the tumor vascular beds, thereby deteriorating intratumor microenvironment leading to indirect tumor cell death. Furthermore, indications are that the massive release of tumor antigens from the tumor cells directly and indirectly killed by SBRT and SRS stimulate anti-tumor immunity, thereby suppressing recurrence and metastatic tumor growth. The reoxygenation, repair, repopulation, and redistribution, which are important components in the response of tumors to conventional fractionated radiotherapy, play relatively little role in SBRT and SRS. The linear-quadratic model, which accounts for only direct cell death has been suggested to overestimate the cell death by high dose per fraction irradiation. However, the model may in some clinical cases incidentally do not overestimate total cell death because high-dose irradiation causes additional cell death through indirect mechanisms. For the improvement of the efficacy of SBRT and SRS, further investigation is warranted to gain detailed insights into the mechanisms underlying the SBRT and SRS.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.102-107
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• 2013

Hepatitis A (HA) is an acute infectious disease of the liver caused by the Hepatitis A virus (HAV). In acute HA, the presence of anti-HAV IgM is detectable and about 3 weeks after exposure, its titre increases over 4 to 6 weeks. Anti-HAV IgG is detectable within a few days of the onset of symptoms. IgG antibodies continue to last for years after infection and provide lifelong immunity to the host. This study was performed to investigate the current seroprevalence of anti-HAV antibodies in Jeonbuk province, South Korea. A total of 591 (male 322, female 269) serum samples were collected in July 2011 to June 2012. We tested the antibodies of anti-HAV IgG and IgM using a Modular E170 (Roche Diagnostics, Germany), and analysed the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels by HITACH 7600-100 (HITACH, Japan). The overall seroprevalence of anti-HAV IgG was 84.6% (500/591), and the rate of females (85.9%) was higher than males (83.5%). According to the decade of age, seroprevalence of anti-HAV IgG were as follows; 68.8% (11/16) in the under 10 years old category, 100% (19/19) in the 10~19 category, 96% (48/50) in the 20~29 category, 83.6% (56/67) in the 30~39 category, 84.3% (123/146) in the 40~49 category, 83.3% (135/162) in the 50~59 category, 83.1% (54/65) in the 60~69 category, 78.1% (32/41) in the 70~79 category, and 88% (22/25) in the over 80 category. Total seroprevalence of anti-HAV IgM was 3.4% (20/591), and according to gender, the seroprevalence of male (3.1%) was very similar to that of female (3.7%). Through this study, we know that the seroprevalence of anti-HAV antibody in north-west Jeonbuk province, South Korea, was high. Only children under the age of 10 remain susceptible to HAV infection. Vaccination against HAV is not needed at the present time for the people of Jeonbuk province, South Korea, but a vaccination should be recommended and the improvement in sanitary conditions and personal hygiene should be highlighted.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.486-493
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• 2007

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease and the pathogenesis of AD is associated with the release of various cytokines/chemokines due to activated $Th_2$ immune responses. Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) containing unmethylated CpG dinucleotide in the context of particular base sequence (CpG motifs) are known to have the immunostimulatory activities in mice and to convert from Th2 to Th1 immune responses in AD. We aimed to investigate that CpG ODN, especially phosphodiester form, can stimulate the protective immunity in NC/Nga mice with AD. We isolated BMDCs from NC/Nga mice and then, cultured with GM-CSF and IL-4 for 6 days, and treated for 2 days by either phosphorothioate ODN or phosphodiester ODN. CpG ODN-treated DCs resulted in more production of IL-12. When CpG ODN-treated DCs were intravenously injected into the NC/Nga mice, the NC/Nga mice with CpG ODN-treated DCs showed significant improvement of AD symptoms and decrease of IgE level. Histopathologically, the NC/Nga mice skin with CpG ODN-treated DCs showed the decreased IL-4 and TARC expression comparing with non-injected mice. These results may suggest that phosphodiester CpG ODN-treated DCs might function as a potent adjuvant for AD in a mouse model.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1125-1132
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to suggest installation methods of a mobile-communication repeater into a lift system with consideration of EMC. Two approaches, one(Solution 1) is realized with a repeater installed in a lift hoistway and another(Solution 2) installed inside a lift, were proposed. It is confirmed that the Solution 1 is more effective than the Solution 2. And it is suggested that the EIRP of a repeater must be limited to be ${\leq}$-5 dBm by considering electromagnetic immunity level for a lift and safety margin of 20 dB. This limit can provide suitable electromagnetic environment inside a lift with precise power-control mechanism of mobile communication systems. This study could be a good example of Green ICT by improving electromagnetic environment in spite of radio use.