• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.967-972
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• 2007

Osteoporosis is the most prevalent metabolic bone disease and is characterized by diminished bone strength predisposing to an increased risk of fracture. We investigated the effects of the extract from Acyranthes Radix on the progress of bone loss in ovariectomized rats for 6 weeks. Female Sprague-Dawley 40 rats of 3-4 weeks, weight 200 ${\pm}$ 10g were divided into two groups including the sham operation group(8 rats) and ovariectomy group(32 rats). The dose-dependent effect of Acyranthes Radix extract on bone mineral density and biochemical testing was assessed in ovariectomized rat. Body weights were increased in all groups was higher in experimental group than sham operation group. The level of bone mineral density, GPT, and serum P concentration, ALP were increased experimental group, but a little increase in sham operation group at same period. This longitudinal study result made conclusion that Acyranthes Radix extract treatment appeared to improve the osteoporosis delaying the progression to the osteoporotic process in rats.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.141-151
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• 2007

Parkinson's disease is one of the most frequent neurodegenerative diseases, which mainly affects the elderly. Parkinson's disease is often difficult to differentiate from atypical parkinson diorder such as progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy, dementia with Lewy body, and corticobasal ganglionic degeneration, based on the clinical findings because of the similarity of phenotypes and lack of diagnostic markers. The accurate diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and atypical Parkinson disorders is not only important for deciding on treatment regimens and providing prognosis, but also it is critical for studies designed to investigate etiology and pathogenesis of parkinsonism and to develop new therapeutic strategies. Although degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine system results in marked loss of striatal dopamine content in most of the diseases causing parkinsonism, pathologic studies revealed different topographies of the neuronal cell loss in Parkisonism. Since the regional cerebral glucose metabolism is a marker of integrated local synaptic activity and as such is sensitive to both direct neuronal/synaptic damage and secondary functional disruption at synapses distant from the primary site of pathology, an assessment of the regional cerebral glucose metabolism with F-18 FDG PET is useful in the differential diagnosis of parkinsonism and evaluating the pathophysiology of parkisonism.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.696-702
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• 2017

Metabolic syndrome, including obesity, glucose intolerance and elevated blood pressure, is related to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have reported the anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic effects of purple corn extract. We investigated the efficacy of purple corn extract (PC) against high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity and glucose intolerance, and examined the underlying mechanisms by analyzing expression of proteins and genes involved in glucose regulation and macrophage infiltration. C57BL/6 mice were fed with normal chow diet (ND), or HFD treated with distilled water (DW, control) or PC, for 10 weeks. Although body weights were similar in the HFD-fed groups, we observed a decrease in the liver and epididymal adipose tissue (EAT) weights, and enhanced glucose tolerance test (GTT) results in the PC group, as compared with DW group. Liver showed increased Akt phosphorylation in the PC-treated mice; however, no changes were observed in the EAT, for all groups. In PC-treated mice, decreased macrophage infiltration was seen in the EAT, with a reduced expression of macrophage marker genes. Finally, proinflammatory cytokine gene expressions were decreased by PC in the EAT, and a modest trend for downregulation was observed in the liver. Hence, we conclude that PC may decrease glucose intolerance by increasing the phosphorylation of Akt and reducing the macrophage infiltration into the EAT.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.290-301
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• 2019

Paeonol has neuroprotective function, which could be useful for improving central nervous system disorder. The purpose of this study was to characterize the functional mechanism involved in brain transport of paeonol through blood-brain barrier (BBB). Brain transport of paeonol was characterized by internal carotid artery perfusion (ICAP), carotid artery single injection technique (brain uptake index, BUI) and intravenous (IV) injection technique in vivo. The transport mechanism of paeonol was examined using conditionally immortalized rat brain capillary endothelial cell line (TR-BBB) as an in vitro model of BBB. Brain volume of distribution (VD) of [$^3H$]paeonol in rat brain was about 6-fold higher than that of [$^{14}C$]sucrose, the vascular space marker of BBB. The uptake of [$^3H$]paeonol was concentration-dependent. Brain volume of distribution of paeonol and BUI as in vivo and inhibition of analog as in vitro studies presented significant reduction effect in the presence of unlabeled lipophilic compounds such as paeonol, imperatorin, diphenhydramine, pyrilamine, tramadol and ALC during the uptake of [$^3H$]paeonol. In addition, the uptake significantly decreased and increased at the acidic and alkaline pH in both extracellular and intracellular study, respectively. In the presence of metabolic inhibitor, the uptake reduced significantly but not affected by sodium free or membrane potential disruption. Similarly, paeonol uptake was not affected on OCTN2 or rPMAT siRNA transfection BBB cells. Interestingly. Paeonol is actively transported from the blood to brain across the BBB by a carrier mediated transporter system.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.569-577
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• 2019

The current experiment was conducted to compare nutrient utilization in the aged laying hens with different eggshell strengths or different intensities of brown eggshell color. Two metabolic trials with 96-week-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were conducted. Twelve hens with a strong eggshell strength (SES) and 12 hens with a weak eggshell strength (WES) were selected and used in the first experiment, whereas 12 hens with dark brown eggshells (DBE) and 12 hens with light brown eggshells (LBE) were selected and used in the second experiment. All hens were fed a common commercial layer diet. Diets included chromic oxide as an indigestible marker to determine the apparent total tract retention (ATTR) of the gross energy (GE), dry matter, acid-hydrolyzed ether extract, nitrogen, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, ash, and minerals. The results indicate that the ATTR of Ca in the aged laying hens with SES (59.7%) was greater (p < 0.05) than in the aged laying hens with WES (48.6%). However, the ATTR of the GE and other nutrients was not different between the hens with SES or WES. There were no differences in the ATTR of GE and nutrients between the hens with DBE or LBE. In conclusion, aged laying hens with SES have a greater ability to utilize dietary Ca than those with WES, indicating that the extent of dietary Ca utilization determines the eggshell strength of aged laying hens. However, nutrient utilization in diets may have little impact on eggshell brown coloration in aged laying hens.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.63-77
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• 2019

Traditional wastewater research mainly focuses on 1) estimating the amount of waste entering sewage treatment facilities, 2) evaluating the treatment efficiency of sewage facilities, 3) investigating the role of sewage treatment effluent as a point source, and 4) designing and managing sewage treatment facilities. However, since wastewater contains a variety of chemical and biological substances due to the discharge of human excreta and material used for daily living into it, the collective constituents of wastewater are likely a reflection of a community's status. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), an emerging and promising field of study that involves the analysis of substances in wastewater, can be applied to monitor the state of a defined community. WBE provides opportunities for exploiting indicators in wastewater to fulfill various objectives. The data analyzed under WBE are those pertaining to selected natural and anthropogenic substances in wastewater that are a result of the discharge of metabolic excreta, illicit or legal drugs, and infectious pathogens into the wastewater. This paper reviews recent progress in WBE and addresses current challenges in the field. It primarily discusses several representative applications including the investigation of drug consumption across different communities and the management of community disease and health. Finally, it summarizes established indicators for WBE.

• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.191-196
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• 2018

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cancer are serious health problems worldwide, and their prevalences have been on the rise in recent years. It has been reported that adropin plays an important role in the development of T2DM, oxidative stress, inflammation, and obesity. However, there is limited information available on T2DM from human studies, especially for the Korean population. In this study, we aimed to investigate the correlation between adropin levels and obesity of Korean T2DM patients. Methods: Thirty-six T2DM patients were recruited for this study. The participants were further classified into female (n = 12) and male (n = 24). Their body composition, metabolic parameters, inflammatory factors, and oxidative stress were measured. Results: The severity of obesity is more manifested in male than in female. Plasma triglyceride (TG) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels of male were significantly higher than female. The plasma adropin and adiponectin level of female was significantly higher than male. The body weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat mass were negatively correlated with the plasma adropin level in female, whereas adropin has positive correlation with adiponectin in female. The hs-CRP was negatively correlated with the plasma adropin level in female and male. malondialdehyde, reactive oxidative species, and $TNF-{\alpha}$ was not significantly correlated with adropin in patients with T2DM. Conclusions: These findings suggest that adropin may be more used as a biomarker for predicting the risk of obesity and inflammation in Korean patients with T2DM, especially women.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.187-202
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• 2018

Objectives : Non-invasive transcranial electrical stimulation is one of therapeutic interventions to change in neural excitability of the cortex. Transcranial electro-acupuncture (TEA) can modulate brain functions through changes in cortical excitability as a model of non-invasive transcranial electrical stimulation. Some composites of fermented Scutellaria baicalenis (FSB) can activate intercellular signaling pathways for activation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor that is critical for formation of neural plasticity in stroke patients. This study was aimed at evaluation of combinatory treatment of TEA and FSB on behavior recovery and cortical neural excitability in rodent focal stroke model. Methods : Focal ischemic stroke was induced by photothrombotic injury to the motor cortex of adult rats. Application of TEA with 20 Hz and $200{\mu}A$ in combination with daily oral treatment of FBS was given to stroke animals for 3 weeks. Motor recovery was evaluated by rotating bean test and ladder working test. Electrical activity of cortical pyramidal neurons of stroke model was evaluated by using multi-channel extracellular recording technique and thallium autometallography. Results : Compared with control stroke group who did not receive any treatment, Combination of TEA and FSB treatment resulted in more rapid recovery of forelimb movement following focal stroke. This combination treatment also elicited increase in spontaneous firing rate of putative pyramidal neurons. Furthermore expression of metabolic marker for neural excitability was upregulated in peri-infract area under thallium autometallography. Conclusions : These results suggest that combination treatment of TEA and FSB can be a possible remedy for motor recovery in focal stroke.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.401-411
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• 2019

All Idiomarina species are isolated from saline environments; microorganisms in such extreme habitats develop metabolic adaptations and can produce compounds such as proteases with an industrial potential. ARDRA and 16S rRNA gene sequencing are established methods for performing phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic identification. However, 16S-23S ITS is more variable than the 16S rRNA gene within a genus, and is therefore, used as a marker to achieve a more precise identification. In this study, ten protease producing Idiomarina strains isolated from the Peruvian salterns were characterized using biochemical and molecular methods to determine their bacterial diversity and industrial potential. In addition, comparison between the length and nucleotide sequences of a 16S-23S ITS region allowed us to assess the inter and intraspecies variability. Based on the 16S rRNA gene, two species of Idiomarina were identified (I. zobellii and I. fontislapidosi). However, biochemical tests revealed that there were differences between the strains of the same species. Moreover, it was found that the ITS contains two tRNA genes, $tRNA^{Ile(GAT)}$ and $tRNA^{Ala(TGC)}$, which are separated by an ISR of a variable size between strains of I. zobellii. In one strain of I. zobellii (PM21), we found nonconserved nucleotides that were previously not reported in the $tRNA^{Ala}$ gene sequences of Idiomarina spp. Thus, based on the biochemical and molecular characteristics, we can conclude that protease producing Idiomarina strains have industrial potential; only two I. zobellii strains (PM48 and PM72) exhibited the same properties. The differences between the other strains could be explained by the presence of subspecies.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.142-147
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• 2022

Human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have been utilized as a promising source in regenerative medicine. However, the risk of teratoma formation that comes with residual undifferentiated PSCs in differentiated cell populations is most concerning in the clinical use of PSC derivatives. Here, we report that a monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting PSCs could distinguish undifferentiated PSCs, with potential teratoma-forming activity, from differentiated PSC progeny. A panel of hybridomas generated from mouse immunization with H9 human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) was screened for ESC-specific binding using flow cytometry. A novel mAb, K312, was selected considering its high stem cell-binding activity, and this mAb could bind to several human induced pluripotent stem cells and PSC lines. Cell-binding activity of K312 was markedly decreased as hESCs were differentiated into embryoid bodies or by retinoic acid treatment. In addition, a cell population negatively isolated from undifferentiated or differentiated H9 hESCs via K312 targeting showed a significantly reduced expression of pluripotency markers, including Oct4 and Nanog. Furthermore, K312-based depletion of pluripotent cells from differentiated PSC progeny completely prevented teratoma formation. Therefore, our findings suggest that K312 is utilizable in improving stem cell transplantation safety by specifically distinguishing residual undifferentiated PSCs.