• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.260-265
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• 2014

Dried Citrus unshiu peels (Aurantii Nobilis Pericarpium; ANP) are used as a traditional folk medicine for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders in East Asia, including Korea. In the present study, an ethanolic extract of ANP (ANP-E) exhibited no significant toxicity in mice, even at an oral dose of 5 g/kg. The effects of ANP-E on GI motor function were investigated by measuring the intestinal transit rate (ITR) of Evans blue in normal mice and mice with experimental GI motility dysfunction (i.e., peritoneal irritation by acetic acid; PIA). In normal mice, ANP-E significantly increased the ITR in a dose-dependent manner. The ITR in the PIA mice was significantly retarded compared to that in the normal mice. However, ANP-E significantly inhibited this retardation in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, in all the models, the potency of ANP-E appeared to be same or higher than that of cisapride, which was used predominantly for the treatment of various GI motility disorders in humans in the 1900s but was removed from the market in 2000 due to fatal side effects. The results suggest that ANP-E has potential as a new prokinetic agent that could be used as a substitute for cisapride.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.373-379
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• 2015

Pyruvate kinase M2 isoform (PKM2), a rate-limiting enzyme in the final step of glycolysis, is known to be associated with the metabolic rewiring of cancer cells, and considered an important cancer therapeutic target. Herein, we report a novel PKM2 activator, PA-12, which was identified via the molecular docking-based virtual screening. We demonstrate that PA-12 stimulates the pyruvate kinase activity of recombinant PKM2 in vitro, with a half-maximal activity concentration of $4.92{\mu}M$, and effectively suppresses both anchorage-dependent and -independent growth of lung cancer cells in non-essential amino acid-depleted medium. In addition, PA-12 blocked the nuclear translocalization of PKM2 in lung cancer cells, resulting in the inhibition of hypoxia response element (HRE)-mediated reporter activity as well as hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) target gene expression, eventually leading to the suppression of cell viability under hypoxia. We also verified that the effects of PA-12 were dependent on PKM2 expression in cancer cells, demonstrating the specificity of PA-12 for PKM2 protein. Taken together, our data suggest that PA-12 is a novel and potent PKM2 activator that has therapeutic implications for lung cancer.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.12
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• pp.190-204
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• 2010

This study firstly examined the socioeconomic and health factors associated with infiltration of private health insurance. Secondly, we compared health behavior, outpatient and inpatient use of private health insured with uninsured. The method of this study is that secondary analysis of the 2008 Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey was conducted for 7178 respondents aged 19 over. We use the logistic regression and t-test for data analysis. The first dependent variable was dichotomy which is divided to private health insured or uninsured and the second dependent variable was the presence and frequency of outpatient and inpatient use. The descriptive variables was gender, age, marital status, income, education, occupation, type of national health insurance, residential area, self confidence of health, prevalence rate of common disease, activity limitation, drinking and smoking status. The result of the major findings are as follows. First, 59 under aged person, married person, people in the higher brackets of income, national employee insured were more likely to infiltrate private health insurance. The poor self confidence of health, activity limitation, person with hypertension or allergic rhinitis and smoker were negatively related in infiltrating private health insurance. Second, private health insured did more preventive behavior such as self-paid health examination, cancer screening, regular exercise than uninsured. Third, private health insured was positively related with the presence of outpatient use and frequency of inpatient use

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.825-831
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• 2007

Anti-proliferation effects of decursin from Angelica gigas Nakai were investigated in the MCF-7 cells treated with environmental hormones. The proliferation was decreased in a dose-dependent manner at the concentration over 20 ${\mu}g/mL$ in the MCF-7 cells treated with decursin of various concentrations. The environmental hormones such as $17{\beta}$-estradiol and bisphenol increased the growth of MCF-7 cells in the charcoal-treated FBS (cFBS) medium and the proliferation was the highest at 0.1 ${\mu}M$ among the tested hormone concentration. Decursin was predicted to inhibit the proliferation in a dose-dependent fashion at tested concentrations (1, 3, 10 or 30 ${\mu}g/mL$) in the MCF-7 cells added environmental hormones; however, the survival rate of the cells was lower than that of control cells that were not treated with decursin at 30 ${\mu}g/mL$ concentration. The chromatin condensation and apoptotic body were examined in the decursin treated cells cultured with the cFBS medium added environmental hormones. These results suggest that decursin decreased the proliferation through apoptosis in the MCF-7 cells added environmental hormones.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.491-510
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• 1996

This study was performed to evaluate the effects of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) on the characteristics of beagle dog's periodontal ligament (BPD) cells and bone marrow (BBM) cells which have the important role on the early stage of periodontal tissue regeneration in vitro. In control group, the cells ($1.5{\times}10^5$cells/ml) were cultured alone with Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium contained with 10% fetal bovine serum, $50{\mu]g/ml$ ascorbic acid, and 10mM/ml ${\beta}-glycerophosphate$. In experimental groups, growth factors, PDGF or EGF(10ng/ml), were added into the above culture condition. And then each group was characterized by examining the cell proliferation rate, amount of total protein synthesis, alkaline phosphatase activity at 1, 5, 9, 13, 17th day after seeding of cells into the culture wells. The results were as follows: 1. Both BPD and BBM cells in PDGF-treated group proliferated more rapidly than non-treated cells. This finding also was observed in EGF-treated group but it was not as prominent as that of PDGF-treated group. The proliferation rates of both cells showed the time-dependent pattern during experimental periods in all three groups. 2. Amount of total protein synthesis was more increased in PDGF-treated group than in control group. But no significant difference between EGF-treated group and control group was observed throughout experimental periods even though the tendency of amount of protein synthesis was time-dependent pattern. 3. Alkaline phosphatase activity also more increased in PDGF-treated group than control group. But slight decrease tendency was seen in both cells of EGF-treated group. From the above results, PDGF appeared to enhance the proliferation and cellular activities including amount of total protein synthesis and alkaline phosphatase activity of BPD and BBM cell, but EGF did not show notable effects. The optimal application of these growth factors was thought to be useful as the adjunctive means in periodontal regeneration procedures.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.217-226
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to estimate the emission factor of $non-CO_2$ global warming gases such as $N_2O$ and $CH_4$ by measuring concentrations from stacks of waste incinerators and cement production plants. Based on the established monitoring methods, $N_2O$ concentration measured from stacks in incinerator were between 0.62 and $40.60\;ppm_v$ (ave. $11.50\;ppm_v$). The concentration of $N_2O$ was dependent on the incinerator types. However, the concentrations of $CH_4$ gas were between 2.65 and $5.68\;ppm_v$ (ave. $4.22\;ppm_v$), and did not show the dependency on the incinerator types. In the cement production plant, the concentration ranges of $N_2O$ from the stack were from 6.90 to $10.80\;ppm_v$ (ave. $8.60\;ppm_v$), and $CH_4$ were between 1.80 and $2.20\;ppm_v$ (ave. $2.60\;ppm_v$). Using measured concentrations, the emission amounts of $N_2O$ and $CH_4$ from stacks per year were calculated. The results were is 4.2 ton $N_2O/yr$ in the incinerators, and 53.7 ton $N_2O/yr$ in the cement facilities. The big difference is from the flow rate of flue gas in the cement facilities compared to the incinerators. By the same reason, the $CH_4$ emission amounts in cement plant and incinerator was found to be 339 ton $CO_2/yr$ and 34.1 ton $CO_2/yr$, respectively. Finally, the emission factor of $N_2O$ in the incinerators were calculated using the measured concentration and the amount of incinerated wastes, and was $42.5\sim799.1\;g/ton$ in kiln and stoker type, $11.9\sim79.9\;g/ton$ in stoker type, 90.1 ton/g in rotary kiln type, 174.9 g/ton in fluidized bed type, and 63.8 g/ton in grate type, respectively. Also, the emission factors of $CH_4$ were found to 65.2-91.3 g/ton in kiln/stoker type, 73.9-122 g/ton in stoker type, 109.5 g/ton rotary kiln, and 26.1 g/ton in fluidized bed type. This result indicates that the emission factor in incinerators is strongly dependent on the incinerator types, and matched with result of IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) guideline.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.9-19
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• 2017

We studied soil composition, $N_2O$ production, a number of denitrifying bacteria, community structure and T-RFLP patterns of denitrifying bacteria dependent on agricultural methods with the change of seasons. Analyses of the soil chemical composition revealed that total carbon and total organic carbon contents were 1.57% and 1.28% in the organic farming soil, 1.52% and 1.24% in the emptiness farming soil, and 1.40% and 0.95% in traditional farming soil, respectively. So, the amount of organic carbon was relatively high in the environment friendly farming soils than traditional farming soils. In case of $N_2O$ production, the amount of $N_2O$ production was high in May and November soils, but the rate of $N_2O$ production was fast in August soil. The average number of denitrifying bacteria were $1.32{\times}10^4MPN{\cdot}g^{-1}$ in the organic farming soil, $1.17{\times}10^4MPN{\cdot}g^{-1}$ in the emptiness farming soil, and $6.29{\times}10^3MPN{\cdot}g^{-1}$ in the traditional farming soil. It was confirmed that the environment friendly farming soil have a larger number of denitrifying bacteria than the traditional farming soil. As a result of the phylogenetic analyses, it was confirmed that six clusters were included in organic farming soil among total 10 clusters. And the result of PCA profile distribution of T-RFLP pattern on agricultural methods, the range of distribution showed wide in the organic farming method, relatively narrow in the conventional farming method, and middle in the emptiness farming method. Therefore, we could concluded that the distribution and the community structure of denitrifying bacteria were changed according to the agricultural methods and seasons.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.79-83
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• 2009

Thin electric insulation layers were coated on aluminum plates and aluminum condenser cases by plasma polymerization of HMDSO+$O_2$. Electric resistances of the films were higher than 1.0 M$\Omega$ if they are thicker than 0.5 ${\mu}m$ independently of the type of films but their surface morphologies and adhesion strengths were dependent on the process conditions. Deposition rate and adhesion strength of the films were dependent on $O_2$/HMDSO flow ratio and discharge power. The best result was obtained at $O_2$/HMDSO flow ratio of 4 and discharge power of 60 W. Adhesion strength could also be highly improved if aluminum was pre-treated in boiling water for 30 min through the formation of Al-O-Si bonding between the film and the aluminum surface. The coated films showed excellent chemical and thermal resistances.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.393-402
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• 2020

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular parasite that causes severe disease when the infection occurs during pregnancy. Adenosine is a purine nucleoside involved in numerous physiological processes; however, the role of adenosine receptors in T. gondii-induced trophoblast cell function has not been investigated until now. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the intracellular signaling pathways regulated by adenosine receptors using a HTR-8/SVneo trophoblast cell model of T. gondii infection. HTR8/SVneo human extravillous trophoblast cells were infected with or without T. gondii and then evaluated for cell morphology, intracellular proliferation of the parasite, adenosine receptor expression, TNF-α production and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling pathways triggered by adenosine A₃ receptor (A₃AR). HTR8/SVneo cells infected with T. gondii exhibited an altered cytoskeletal changes, an increased infection rate and reduced viability in an infection time-dependent manner. T. gondii significantly promoted increased TNF-α production, A₃AR protein levels and p38, ERK1/2 and JNK phosphorylation compared to those observed in uninfected control cells. Moreover, the inhibition of A₃AR by A₃AR siRNA transfection apparently suppressed the T. gondii infection-mediated upregulation of TNF-α, A₃AR production and MAPK activation. In addition, T. gondii-promoted TNF-α secretion was dramatically attenuated by pretreatment with PD098059 or SP600125. These results indicate that A₃AR-mediated activation of ERK1/2 and JNK positively regulates TNF-α secretion in T. gondii-infected HTR8/SVneo cells.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2006

Epidemiological studies have indicated that the ubiquitous consumption of seaweeds is a protective factor against some types of cancer. Previous results showed that the administration of seaweed powder or extract reduced the incidence rate of chemically induced tumorigenesis using in vivo animal model. Recently, we reported that the extracts of Gloiopeltis furcata, a kind of Korean edible seaweed, caused he cell growth inhibition of various human cancer cell lines, among them methanol extract exhibited a relatively strong antiproliferative activity. However, the molecular mechanisms of this seaweed in malignant cells have been poorly studied until now. To elucidate this problem, we investigated the effects of methanol extract of G. furcata (MEGF) on the growth inhibition in several human cancer cell lines, and further we analyzed the effects of this extract were tested on the activity of apoptosis induction in human leukemic cells. The results demonstrated that MEGF treatment resulted in the morphological changes and the growth inhibition in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, MEGF potently suppresses the growth of human leukemic U937 cells by induction of apoptosis, which was associated with induction of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1) in a tumor suppressor p53-independent fashion and up-regulation of Fas/FasL system. Further studies will be needed to identify the active compounds that confer the anticancer activity of MEGF. Once such compounds are identified, the mechanisms by which they exert their effects can begin to be characterized.