• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.43-50
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• 2007

Analysis of intraepidermal nerve fibers using skin biopsy is a recently developed technique, providing diagnostic information on small fiber neuropathies. The specimens are obtained by 3 mm punch biopsy, which is safe and minimally invasive. Immunohistochemical staining by Protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 demonstrate not only intraepidermal nerve fibers but dermal structures, such as sweat gland and erector papillae. Up to now, many studies agree that intraepidermal nerve fiber density is dramatically reduced in various sensory neuropathies. The utility of density measure was confirmed with high sensitivity in the diagnosis of sensory neuropathy, comparable to sural nerve biopsy or quantitative sensory testing. Besides quantitative methods, morphological changes like axonal swelling and fragmentation can be used as predegenerative markers. This article reviews the technique of skin biopsy and clinical and experimental usefulness of skin biopsy in diagnosing and monitoring peripheral neuropathies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Rheology Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.61-64
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• 2006

Soft materials, such as polymer solutions, gels and filamentous protein materials in cells, show complicated behavior due to their complex structures and dynamics with multiple characteristic time and length scales. Several complementary techniques have been developed to measure viscoelastic of soft materials. Especially, particle tracking microrheology, using the Brownian motion of particles in a medium to get rheological properties, has recently been improved both theoretically and experimentally. Compared to other conventional methods, video particle tracking microrheology has some advantages such as small sample volume, detecting spatial variation of local rheological properties, and less damage to sample materials. With these advantages, microrheology is more suitable to measure the properties of complex materials than other mechanical rheometries.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 2012

Ergosta-4,6,8(14),22-tetraen-3-one (1), ergosta-7,24(28)-dien-3-ol (2), and 5,8-epidioxyergosta-6,22-dien-3-ol(3) were isolated from the fruit body of Phellinus pini. Their structures were based on spectroscopic methods including IR, MS, and NMR (1D and 2D). These compounds were screened for their ability to inhibit nitric oxide (NO) production in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 cells. Compounds 1, 2, and 3 reduced NO production in the assay with $IC_50$ values of 29.7 ${\mu}M$ (1), 15.1 ${\mu}M$ (2), and 18.4 ${\mu}M$ (3) respectively. They also suppressed the expression of protein and m-RNA of iNOS and COX-2 in a dose dependent manner by western blot analysis and RT-PCR experiment in LPS-activated microglial cells.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.301-303
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• 1995

Crude ginseng saponin fraction reduced the production of thromboxane $A_2$in the lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophages. Several kinds of crude saponins showed variant potency that might be caused by the compositional difference of ginseng saponins. From the metabolic labeling experimental data, this reduction of thromboxane $A_2$formation, at least in part, resulted from the reduction of protein synthesis of inducible isozyme of cyclooxygenase(COX-2). This activity may be resulted from the fact that ginseng saponins have steroidal moiety in their structures.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1036-1039
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• 1996

Synthetic lipoidal peptides based on viral protein sequences have been prepared. These peptides contain an N-palmitoyl group at the N-terminal residue, which is a modified cysteine, containing a S-[2,3-bis(acyloxy)-(2-R,S)-propyl] moiety. When this residue (Pam3Cys) is at the N-terminus of a synthetic peptide, it acts as potent immunoadjuvant to enhance both IgM and IgG antibody responses to the attached peptide. Conventional analytical procedures (e.g., Edman degradation and amino acid analysis) are either not applicable due to the N-terminal modification, or do not provide confirmation of the intact structure. Chromatographic analysis is also hindered by the tendency of these lipoidal Pam3Cys peptides to form large aggregates, and in some cases to be permanently adsorbed on reversed phase columns. We have applied several mass spectrometric techniques, including fast atom bombardment (FAB), electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) to characterize the intact structures of a number of different Pam3Cys synthetic peptides. The MALDI-MS has been found to be the most sensitive for the analysis of the structure of Pam3Cys peptides.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.9.1-9.5
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• 2021

Mammalian olfactory receptors are a family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that occupy a large part of the genome. In human genes, olfactory receptors account for more than 40% of all GPCRs. Several types of GPCR structures have been identified, but there is no single olfactory receptor whose structure has been determined experimentally to date. The aim of this study was to model the interactions between an olfactory receptor and its ligands at the molecular level to provide hints on the binding modes between the OR2W1 olfactory receptor and its agonists and inverse agonists. The results demonstrated the modes of ligand binding in a three-dimensional model of OR2W1 and showed a statistically significant difference in binding affinity to the olfactory receptor between agonists and inverse agonists.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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• v.67
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• pp.293-300
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• 2018

Lipocalins are diverse group of small extracellular proteins found in various organisms. In this study, members of 10 non-homologous lipocalin-ligand crystal complex structures were remodeled using rigid and flexible ligand modes to validate the prediction efficiency of molecular docking simulation. The modeled ligand conformations indicated a high prediction accuracy in rigid ligand mode using cluster based analysis for most cases whereas the flexible ligand mode required further considerations such as ligand binding energy and RMSD for some cases. This in silico study is expected to serve as a platform in the screening of novel ligands against lipocalin family of proteins.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.125-135
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• 2022

Continuously renewing the proteome, translation is exquisitely controlled by a number of dedicated factors that interact with the ribosome. The RNA helicase DDX3 belonging to the DEAD box family has emerged as one of the critical regulators of translation, the failure of which is frequently observed in a wide range of proliferative, degenerative, and infectious diseases in humans. DDX3 unwinds double-stranded RNA molecules with coupled ATP hydrolysis and thereby remodels complex RNA structures present in various protein-coding and noncoding RNAs. By interacting with specific features on messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), DDX3 facilitates translation, while repressing it under certain conditions. We review recent findings underlying these properties of DDX3 in diverse modes of translation, such as cap-dependent and cap-independent translation initiation, usage of upstream open reading frames, and stress-induced ribonucleoprotein granule formation. We further discuss how disease-associated DDX3 variants alter the translation landscape in the cell.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2022

The various DNA-protein interactions associated with the expression of genetic information involve double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) bending. Due to the importance of the formation of the dsDNA bending structure, dsDNA bending properties have long been investigated in the biophysics field. Conventionally, DNA bendability is characterized by innate averaging data from bulk experiments. The advent of single-molecule methods, such as atomic force microscopy, optical and magnetic tweezers, tethered particle motion, and single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer measurement, has provided valuable tools to investigate not only the static structures but also the dynamic properties of bent dsDNA. Here, we reviewed the single-molecule methods that have been used for investigating dsDNA bendability and new findings related to dsDNA bending. Single-molecule approaches are promising tools for revealing the unknown properties of dsDNA related to its bending, particularly in cells.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2022.09a
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• pp.69-69
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• 2022

Commelinaceae (Commelinales), consist of three subfamiles and 40 genera, are distributed in the Old and New world, except Europe. This family is commonly known as dayflower and spiderwort due to their short bloom time and a viscous stem secretion. Although, several morphological and molecular analysis were conducted, the relationships among the genera are still ambiguous. The rapid advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) enable us to do genomic research widely. Here, we assembled 12 new plastomes of Commelinaceae including Cartonematoideae and compared with previously published data. We identified pseudogened accD and rpoA in Commelinoideae taxa. Phylogenetic analysis inferred from 78 protein-coding genes showed that Rhopalephora scaberrima was nested within Aneilema. Also, there is a need to revise the subtribal relationships in Tradescantieae. This study will contribute to define the genome structures, phylogenetic and biogeographic studies of Commelinaceae.