• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.2325-2331
• /
• 2013

Objective: To detect effects of plumbagin on proliferation and apoptosis in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines, and investigate the underlying mechanisms. Materials and Methods: Human non-small cell lung cancer cell lines A549, H292 and H460 were treated with various concentrations of plumbagin. Cell proliferation rates was determined using both cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and clonogenic assays. Apoptosis was detected by annexin V/propidium iodide double-labeled flow cytometry and TUNEL assay. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were detected by flow cytometry. Activity of NF-${\kappa}B$ was examined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and luciferase reporter assay. Western blotting was used to assess the expression of both NF-${\kappa}B$ regulated apoptotic-related gene and activation of p65 and $I{\kappa}B{\kappa}$. Results: Plumbagin dose-dependently inhibited proliferation of the lung cancer cells. The IC50 values of plumbagin in A549, H292, and H460 cells were 10.3 ${\mu}mol/L$, 7.3 ${\mu}mol/L$, and 6.1 ${\mu}mol/L$ for 12 hours, respectively. The compound concentration-dependently induced apoptosis of the three cell lines. Treatment with plumbagin increased the intracellular level of ROS, and inhibited the activation of NK-${\kappa}B$. In addition to inhibition of NF-${\kappa}B$/p65 nuclear translocation, the compound also suppressed the degradation of $I{\kappa}B{\kappa}$. ROS scavenger NAC highly reversed the effect of plumbagin on apoptosis and inactivation of NK-${\kappa}B$ in H460 cell line. Treatment with plumbagin also increased the activity of caspase-9 and caspase-3, downregulated the expression of Bcl-2, upregulated the expression of Bax, Bak, and CytC. Conclusions: Plumbagin inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in human lung cancer cells through an NF-${\kappa}B$-regulated mitochondrial-mediated pathway, involving activation of ROS.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.11 no.1 s.53
• /
• pp.89-97
• /
• 2007

Parameters including the seismic sources and the elastic wave propagation characteristics were analysed using the observed ground motions from 12 Fukuoka region earthquakes. The Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm was applied to invert all the variables non-linearly and simultaneously with S wave energy in fiequency domain. Average stress drop of 12 events and local attenuation parameter $\kappa$ under seismic stations were estimated to about 79.2-bar and 0.043 respectively. Regional attenuation parameter, Qo and ${\eta}$, were also estimated to be about 248.1 and 0.558 respectively. Low value of Qo seems to caused by inhomogeneous tectonic characteristics between Japan island and southern Korean peninsula. $\kappa$ values are much higher than that characterizing EUS (Eastern United States) region, and nearly similar to that of WUS (Western Waited States) region. If the informations on site specific amplification of all the seismic stations are known, $\kappa$ values can be estimated more precisely. All the values including the seismic sources and the site and crustal scale propagation characteristics can be used as seismic design parameters.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.387-391
• /
• 2015

Background: Fluorine-18 deoxyglucose positron emission tomography computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) and bone scintigraphy (BS) are widely used for the detection of bone involvement. The optimal imaging modality for the detection of bone metastases in hormone receptor positive (+) and negative (-) groups of breast cancer remains ambiguous. Materials and Methods: Sixty-two patients with breast cancer, who had undergone both 18F-FDG-PET/CT and BS, being eventually diagnosed as having bone metastases, were enrolled in this study. Results: 18F-FDG-PET/CT had higher sensitivity and specificity than BS. Our data showed that 18F-FDGPET/CT had a sensitivity of 93.4% and a specificity of 99.4%, whiel for BS they were 84.5%, and 89.6% in the diagnosis of bone metastases. ${\kappa}$ statistics were calculated for 18F-FDGPET/CT and BS. The ${\kappa}$-value was 0.65 between 18F-FDG-PET/CT and BS in all patients. On the other hand, the ${\kappa}$-values were 0.70 in the hormone receptor (+) group, and 0.51 in hormone receptor (-) group. The ${\kappa}$-values suggested excellent agreement between all patient and hormone receptor (+) groups, while the ${\kappa}$-values suggested good agreement in the hormone receptor (-) group. Conclusions: The sensitivity and specificity for 18F-FDG-PET/CT were higher than BS in the screening of metastatic bone lesions in all patients. Similarly 18F-FDG-PET/CT had higher sensitivity and specificity in hormone receptor (+) and (-) groups.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.74-79
• /
• 2013

In continuation of our research to find biological components from Panax stipuleanatus, four oleanane-type triterpenes (12 to 15) were isolated successively. Fifteen oleanane-type saponins (1 to 15) were evaluated for nuclear factor (NF)-${\kappa}B$ activity using a luciferase reporter gene assay in HepG2 cells. Compounds 6 to 11 inhibited NF-${\kappa}B$, with $IC_{50}$ values between 3.1 to 18.9 ${\mu}M$. The effects on inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 by compounds 8, 10, and 11 were also examined using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Three compounds (8, 10, and 11) inhibited NF-${\kappa}B$ activity by reducing the concentration of inflammatory factors in HepG2 cells.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.263-270
• /
• 2003

The objective of the present study was to investigate the use of fluid released from muscle samples as an alternative to serum for ELISA to detect classical swine fever(CSF) virus antibodies in slaughter pigs. The optimal correspondence between serum 1:20 OD values and muscle fluid OD values was achieved at a muscle fluid dilution of 1:2. Significant correlation was found between serum and neck muscle ELISA ($r_s=0.880$, p<0.0001, ${\kappa}=0.82$; specificity of 97.0% and sensitivity 90.6%). The semimembranous muscle showed similar correlation in CSF ELISA($r_s=0.877$, p<0.0001, ${\kappa}=0.75$; specificity of 94.1% and sensitivity 89.1%). High correlation was obtained between serum and mesenteric lymph node in the CSF ELISA ($r_s=0.937$, p<0.0001, ${\kappa}=0.87$; specificity of 97.1% and sensitivity 93.0%). Measmement agreement between serum ELISA and muscle fluid ELISA was calculated and expressed as limits of agreement. The correspondence of ELISA of serum and muscle fluid indicated limits of agreement. Above 95% of all muscle fluid values were distributed within this limits of agreement. Among the samples used for ELISA for detecting CSFV antibodies, mesenteric lymph node had the most correlation and agreement with serum ELISA. F-test for comparison of variances showed no significant difference between the serum and muscle fluid. In conclusion, muscle fluid is a useful postmortem alternative to serum to detect CSFV antibodies.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.146-152
• /
• 2012

Panax ginseng (PG) is a globally utilized medicinal herb. The medicinal effects of PG are primarily attributable to ginsenosides located in the root and leaf. The leaves of PG are known to be rich in various bioactive ginsenosides, and the therapeutic effects of ginseng extract and ginsenosides have been associated with immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activities. We examined the effect of PG leaf extract and the isolated ginsenosides, on nuclear factor (NF)-${\kappa}B$transcriptional activity and target gene expression by applying a luciferase assay and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$-treated hepatocarcinoma HepG2 cells. Air-dried PG leaf extract inhibited TNF-${\alpha}$-induced NF-${\kappa}B$transcription activity and NF-${\kappa}B$-dependent cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression more efficiently than the steamed extract. Of the 10 ginsenosides isolated from PG leaves, Rd and Km most significantly inhibited activity in a dose-dependent manner, with $IC_{50}$ values of $12.05{\pm}0.82$ and $8.84{\pm}0.99\;{\mu}M$, respectively. Furthermore, the ginsenosides Rd and Km inhibited the TNF-${\alpha}$-induced expression levels of the COX-2 and iNOS gene in HepG2 cells. Air-dried leaf extracts and their chemical components, ginsenoside Rd and Km, are involved in the suppression of TNF-${\alpha}$-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ activation and NF-${\kappa}B$-dependent iNOS and COX-2 gene expression. Consequently, air-dried leaf extract from PG, and the purified ginsenosides, have therapeutic potential as anti-inflammatory.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.337-346
• /
• 2015

Water body extraction based on backscatter information is an essential process to analyze floodaffected areas from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image. Water body in SAR image tends to have low backscatter values due to homogeneous surface of water, while non-water body has higher backscatter values than water body. Non-water body, however, may also have low backscatter values in high resolution SAR image such as Kompsat-5 image, depending on surface characteristic of the ground. The objective of this paper is to present a method to increase backscatter contrast between water body and non-water body and also to remove efficiently misclassified pixels beyond true water body area. We create an entropy image using a Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and classify the entropy image into water body and non-water body pixels by thresholding of the entropy image. In order to reduce the effect of threshold value, we also propose Water Body Texture Index (WBTI), which measures simultaneously the occurrence of repeated water body pixel pair and the uniformity of water body in the binary entropy image. The proposed method produced high overall accuracy of 99.00% and Kappa coefficient of 90.38% in water body extraction using Kompsat-5 image. The accuracy analysis indicates that the proposed WBTI method is less affected by the choice of threshold value and successfully maintains high overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient in wide threshold range.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.29 no.7
• /
• pp.591-597
• /
• 2006

Aerial parts of Artemisia asiatica (Compositae) have been traditionally used as an oriental medicine for the treatment of inflammatory and ulcerogenic diseases. In the present study, artemisolide was isolated as a nuclear factor $(NF)-{\kappa}B$ inhibitor from A. asiatica by activity-guided fractionation. Artemisolide inhibited $NF-{\kappa}B$ transcriptional activity in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages RAW 264.7 with an $IC_{50}$ value of $5.8\;{\mu}M$. The compound was also effective in blocking $NF-{\kappa}B$ transcriptional activities elicited by the expression vector encoding the $NF-{\kappa}B$ p65 or p50 subunits bypassing the inhibitory kB degradation signaling $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation. The macrophages markedly increased their $PGE_2$ and NO production upon exposure to LPS alone. Artemisolide inhibited LPS-induced $PGE_2$ and NO production with $IC_{50}$ values of $8.7\;{\mu}M$ and $6.4\;{\mu}M$, respectively, but also suppressed LPS-induced synthesis of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 or inducible NO synthase (iNOS). Taken together, artemisolide is a $NF-{\kappa}B$ inhibitor that attenuates LPS-induced production of $PGE_2$ or NO via down-regulation of COX-2 or iNOS expression in macrophages RAW 264.7. Therefore, artemisolide could represent and provide the anti-inflammatory principle associated with the traditional medicine, A. asiatica.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.64-74
• /
• 2014

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate reliability of questionnaire when self reporting questionnaire created by Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine was applied to Vietnamese. Methods This study began to collect 135 Vietnamese patients questionnaires collaborated with National Hospital of Traditional Medicine located in Hanoi, Vietnam from March to August 2013. All participants for this study filled out the questionnaires respectively. After initial survey finished, additional survey was performed on the same questionnaires used at the beginning eight weeks later. In order to evaluate internal coherence in terms of questionnaires of classification, Cronbach's alpha and Cohen's kappa was measured. Results After analysis of 78 questions collected, less than 0.4 in Kappa was achieved by 21(26.9%) out of 78 questions, 0.4 to 0.75 Kappa by 49(62.8%) and 0.75 over in 5(6.5%) questions, respectively. More than 0.6 Cronbach's alpha was defined from 41 out of 78 questions connected with internal coherence of character, digestion, perspiration, excrement, urine, cold and heat. Conclusions The questionnaire has credibility according to values of Kappa and Cronbach's alpha. Therefore, Sasang Constitution questionnaire can be applied to Sasang Diagnosis. In order to increase usefulness, questions in questionnaire should be revised and validity study must be performed afterwards.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.18 no.12
• /
• pp.1984-1989
• /
• 2008

Surfactin is a natural biosurfactant derived from Bacillus subtilis and has various biological activities such as anticancer, antiplatelet, and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, the inhibitory mechanism of surfactin in NO production from macrophages was examined. Surfactin down regulated LPS-induced NO production in RAW264.7 cells and primary macrophages with $IC_{50}$ values of 31.6 and $22.4{\mu}M$, respectively. Immunoblotting analysis showed that surfactin strongly blocked the phosphorylation of IKK and $l{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ and the nuclear translocation of $NF-{\kappa}B$ (p65). Therefore, these data suggest that surfactin may act as a bacterium-derived anti-inflammatory agent with anti-$NF-{\kappa}B$ activity.