• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.31 no.1 s.57
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• pp.63-74
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• 1995

It has been known that, during hypoxia, the adrenal medulla is activated to release catecholamines (CA) while hypoxia also inhibits high $K^+$ -induced CA secretion in the cultured bovine adrenal chromaffin cells. The present study was attempted to examine the effect of hypoxia on CA secretion evoked by chlinergic stimulation and membrane-depolarization from the isolated perfused rat adrenal glands and also to clarify its mechanism of action. For this purpose, using the isolated rat adrenal glands, the effects of hypoxia on CA release evoked by nicotinic ($N_1$) and muscarinic ($M_1$) receptor agonists, membrane-depolarizing agent, $Ca^{++}$-channel activator, intracellular $Ca^{++}$-releaser and ACh were determined. Experiments were carried out, perfusing Krebs solution pre-equilibrated with a gas mixture of 95% N_2$ and 5% $CO_2$. Hypoxia was maintained for $3{\sim}4$ hours through the experiments. Hypoxia gradually caused a time-dependent seduction in CA secretion evoked by DMPP ($100{\mu}M$), McN-A-343 ($100{\mu}M$), ACh (5.32 mM), Bay-K-8644 ($10{\mu}M$) and high $K^+$ (56 mM) respectively. How-ever, it did not affect CA secretion evoked by cyclopiazonic acid ($10{\mu}M$). Hypoxia itself also did fail to produce any influence on spontaneous secretory response of CA. These experimental results suggest that hypoxia depresses CA release evoked by both cholinergic stimulation and membrane-depolarization from the isolated rat adrenal medulla, and that this inhibitory activity may be due to the result of the direct inhibition of $Ca^{++}$ influx into the chromaffin cells without any effect on the calcium mobilization from the intracellular store.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.32-45
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• 1987

This research attempted to identify basic data related to the nursing of teenagers that would aid in the establishment of nursing care that would meet their health needs, and further to identify which health related activities, are carried out by teenagers, so that appropriate nursing service and health care can be planned for them. The subjects of the study were students at one seoul boys high school and one seoul girls high school. Data was collected between December 16 and. December 19, 1986. The tool used in the study was a questionnaire about the health needs and concerns of teenagers developed at John's Hopkins University and translated and standardized for Korean students. The date was coded fer analysis using' the SPSS program and percentages, mean scores' with standard deviations, Chi square test, and ANOVA, were used for analysis. The following results were obtained : 1. The health status of teenagers : Looking at the health status of teenagers, it can be seen from this study that over half of the teenagers questioned replied that they do not get enough sleep, further that even though they are feeling sick they go to school. However, when asked what they thought of their health, the majority replied that they were healthy, and although they thought about their bea1th was not a concern when they were planning other activities. With regard to health status, there was a significant difference between male and female students concerning whether they were handicapped with regard to sleep, their opinion about their own health, and the amount of time lost from school for illness over the past month, whether in comparison with those of the same age they had more sickeness of not, and whether they had to think about their health when planning other activities. There was also a significant difference according to the age of the students as to whether they worried more about being sick than other members of their age group. 2. Health Realted Activeties of Teenagers : Most of the students in the study reported that they did not get regular physical examinations of health check ups, nor did they get legular examinations when they were sick. Few students reported that they smoked. Most of the students reported taking part in activities that promoted health but about half also reported that they were involved in activities that they knew were detrimental to their health. Further on statistical analysis, there was a significant difference between male and female students regarding health related activities and problems of teenagers and whether they were examined by a medical person when they were sick. 3. The degree of interest and responsibility of teenagers for their own Health: In the section on responsibility for health, the teenagers replies were highest, 4. 5, for the statements, "My health is dependent how much I pay attention to it" and "My health is responsibility" and lowest, 3. 9, for the statement "I am healthy because I have cared for my health so far." With regard to interest in their own health, the majority of the teenagers in the study were more concerned about their studies, high score of 4. 4, than in matters directly related to health. The use of drugs, birth control and masturbation were low on the interest scale. The more involvement in health related activities, the higher the score was for responsibility and this difference was significant, but this did not apply to interest in health. Similarly there was also a significant difference regarding participation in activities known to be detrimental to health and responsiblity for health, but not for interest in health.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.387-394
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate effect of complex extract of various mushrooms and sharp toothed eel on the skin conditions with atopic dermatitis and acne symptoms. The total phenol concentration was increased in order of hot water> ethanol> ethyl acetate> petroleum ether> chloroform extract. Especially, when the hot water extract was used, it was about 2-3 fold higher than that of ethyl acetate, petroleumether, and chloroform extract. When the complex extract concentration was increased from 1.0 to 50 mg/L, the DPPH scavenging rate increased from 10.1 to 81.4%. The reduction power was sharply increased from 0.05 to 0.27 (700 nm) when the complex extract concentration was increased from 25 to 75 mg/L. However, above 100 mg/L, it was not decreased. In the case of SOD-like activity, it was 45.7% at 100 mg/L. Total numbers of patients with atopic dermatitis were 15 and 5 patients with severe acne symptoms. According to photos taken before and after the treatment and questionnaire results, considerable improvements in skin conditions are observed in the patients with atopic dermatitis and acne. For atopic patients, erythema and edema have been improved but the degree of effect was dependent on the individual's constitution. Concerning acne, the effect of coating of the extracts was prominent for first week and the degree decreased with time till 4 weeks. The complex extracts wereefficient in soothing rash and maturation. Side effects such as a scar were not detected during the application and treatment.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.760-771
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• 2012

Marine triterpene glycosides are physiologically active natural compounds isolated from sea cucumbers(holothurians). It was demonstrated that they have a wide range of biological activities, including antifungal, cytotoxic, and antitumor effects. A previous study showed that stichoposide C (STC) isolated from Thelenota anax induces apoptosis through generation of ceramide by activation of acid sphingomyelinase (SMase) and neutral SMase in human leukemia cells. In this study, we investigated whether STD, a structural analog of STC, can induce apoptosis and examined the molecular mechanisms for its activity. It was found that STC and STD induce apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner and lead to the activation of caspase-8, mitochondrial damage, activation of caspase-9, and activation of caspase-3 in K562 and HL-60 cells. STC activates acid SMase and neutral SMase, which results in the generation of ceramide. Specific inhibition of acid SMase or neutral SMase partially blocked STC-induced apoptosis, but not STD-induced apoptosis. In contrast, STD generates ceramide through the activation of ceramide synthase. Specific inhibition of ceramide synthase partially blocked STD-induced apoptosis, but not STC-induced apoptosis. Moreover, STC and STD markedly reduced tumor growth of HL-60 xenograft tumors and increased ceramide generation in vivo. These results indicate that STC and STD can induce apoptosis and have antitumor activity through the different molecular mechanisms, because they have a different sugar residue attached to aglycones. Thus, these results suggest that their actions are affected by a sugar residue attached to aglycones and they can be used as anticancer agents in the treatment of leukemia.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.703-712
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• 2012

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) has been considered to be a very safe and efficient gene delivery system. However, the major obstacles to therapeutic usage of AAV have been to achieve highly efficient and reproducible production processes, and also to develop a reliable quantifying method of various serotypes with a simple protocol. We compared the efficiency of the conventional production protocol of AAV2 and adenovirus (Ad) co-infection to that of a new method containing AAV2 infection followed by pHelper transfection. We tested HEK293 and 293T, and further examined the time-dependent changes of AAV2 production. The new method of AAV2 and pHelper DNA gave about ten times higher production efficiency than that of the conventional protocol. The highest production efficiency in 293T was achieved as $1.61{\times}10^5$ virus genomes (v.g.)/cell by the new method of 10 MOI of AAV2 infection and 5 days post-infection. This protocol of the highest efficiency was then applied to produce various AAV serotypes and showed the efficiencies higher than $10^5$ v.g./cell. Next, we designed the universal PCR primers of highly conserved regions for various AAV serotypes to develop a simple and reliable titration method. The universal primers could amplify all the tested AAV serotypes with similar sensitivities by ten molecular copies. Therefore, this pair of universal primers can be further utilized to detect AAV contaminants in therapeutic adenoviral vectors.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.718-725
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• 2018

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) has been implicated in cell proliferation and apoptosis in several types of cancer. In this study, the impact of TLR4 activation on apoptotic cell death in gynecologic cancers induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was investigated. Cervical cancer cell lines were produced from isolated surgical specimens supplied by Paik Hospital. The primary cultures of normal myometrium and gynecologic cancers, including cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancers, were used to examine the differences in morphological characteristics between normal and cancerous cells. A reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to determine the relative expression levels of TLR4 gene involved in apoptosis-associated signaling in cervical cancer cells. The cancer cell colonies showed a tendency to reach high levels of confluency compared with normal cells. In addition, an enhanced growth rate and loss of contact inhibition were observed in gynecologic cancer cells compared with normal cells (doubling times of 16.6 hr vs. 26 hr, respectively). The expression level of ITGA5, an alpha-5 integrin marker, was upregulated in normal myometrial cells, but this tendency was not exhibited in cervical cancer cells. Furthermore, p53 tumor suppressor gene expression was upregulated, whereas TLR4 and caspase-3 gene expressions were downregulated in cervical cancer cells. Notably, the expression levels of TLR4 and caspase-3 were increased significantly in LPS-treated cancer cells compared with those in non-LPS-treated cells. These results suggest that the TLR4-mediated caspase-dependent apoptotic signaling pathway could be suggested as a therapeutic target for the treatment of gynecologic cancers, including cervical cancers.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.43-47
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• 2009

Purpose: The menstrual cycle of normal premenopausal patients was divide into menstrual flow phase, proliferative phase, ovulatory phase, secretory phase. The aim of this study was to ovarian and endometrial $^{18}F$-FDG uptake during the menstrual cycle in normal premenopausal patients. Materials and Methods: We identified 200 incidental $^{18}F$-FDG uptake in the ovary. The patient fasted at least 6 hours before receiving an intravenous injection of 370-592 MBq (10-16mCi) of $^{18}F$-FDG. Scanning from the base of the skull though the mid thigh was performed using the Discovery Ste PET/CT system (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI, USA). Ovarian and endometrial $^{18}F$-FDG uptake (expressed as standardized uptake value) was measured on PET/CT image. Results: Two peaks of increased endometrial $^{18}F$-FDG uptake were identified during the menstrual cycle. The $SUV_{avg}$ and $SUV_{max}$ was $2.89{\pm}1.04$ and $3.17{\pm}1.59$ in menstruating patients, $2.4{\pm}0.88$ and $2.98{\pm}1.14$ in proliferative phase patients, $3.59{\pm}1.76$ and $3.17{\pm}1.67$ in ovulatory phase patients, $2.58{\pm}1.39$ and $3.1{\pm}1.8$ in secretory phase patients. Conclusions: Increased ovarian and endometrial $^{18}F$-FDG uptake could be found the time of menstrual flow and ovulatory phase of menstrual cycle. Increased uptake in endometrial adjacent to a cervical tumor does not necessarily reflect endometrial tumor invasion. Since increased uptake was dependent on the menstrual cycle, it can be avoided by scheduling PET/CT just after menstruation. Non-menstrual-related endometrial uptake may be instrumental in establishing a diagnosis in a premenopaual patient.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.511-519
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• 2006

Autogenous bone grafts have been considered the gold standard for maxillofacial bony defects. However, this procedure could entail a complicated surgical procedure as well as potential donor site morbidity. Possibly the best solution for bone-defect regeneration is a tissue engineering approach, i.e. the use of a combination of a suitable scaffold with osteogenic cells. A major source of osteogenic cells is the bone marrow. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent and have the ability to differentiate into osteoblastic, chondrocytic, and adipocytic lineage cells. However, the isolation of cells from bone marrow has someproblems when used in clinical setting. Bone marrow aspiration is sometimes potentially more invasive and painful procedure and carries of a risk of morbidity and infection. A minimally invasive, easily accessible alternative would be cells derived from periosteum. The periosteum also contains multipotent cells that have the potential to differentiate into osteoblasts and chondrocytes. In the present study, we evaluated the osteogenic activity and mineralization of cultured human periosteal-derived cells. Periosteal explants were harvested from mandibule during surgical extraction of lower impacted third molar. The periosteal cells were cultured in the osteogenic inductive medium consisting of DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, 50g/ml L-ascorbic acid 2-phosphate, 10 nmol dexamethasone and 10 mM -glycerophosphate for 42 days. Periosteal-derived cells showed positive alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining during 42 days of culture period. The formation of ALP stain showed its maximal manifestation at day 14 of culture period, then decreased in intensity during the culture period. ALP mRNA expression increased up to day 14 with a decrease thereafter. Osteocalcin mRNA expression appeared at day 7 in culture, after that its expression continuously increased in a time-dependent manner up to the entire duration of culture. Von Kossa-positive mineralization nodules were first present at day 14 in culture followed by an increased number of positive nodules during the entire duration of the culture period. In conclusion, our study showed that cultured human periosteal-derived cells differentiated into active osteoblastic cells that were involved in synthesis of bone matrix and the subsequent mineralization of the matrix. As the periosteal-derived cells, easily harvested from intraoral procedure such as surgical extraction of impacted third molar, has the excellent potential of osteogenic capacity, tissue-engineered bone using periosteal-derived cells could be the best choice in reconstruction of maxillofacial bony defects.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2015

Purpose: Poncirus trifoliata has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immune activities. However, its anti-obesity activity and the mechanism by which the water extract of dried, immature fruit of Poncirus trifoliata (PF-W) acts are not clear. This study suggests a potential mechanism associated with the anti-obesity activity of PF-W. Methods: We measured the effect of PF-W on lipoprotein lipase (LPL) regulation using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and an activity assay. The LPL regulation mechanism was examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to measure the mRNA expression of biomarkers related to protein transport and by western blot for analysis of the protein expression of the transcription factor CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein ($C/EBP{\beta}$). Results: The total polyphenol and flavonoid content of PF-W was $52.15{\pm}4.02$ and $6.56{\pm}0.47mg/g$, respectively. PF-W treatment decreased LPL content in media to $58{\pm}5%$ of that in control adipocyte media, and increased LPL content to $117{\pm}3.5%$ of that in control adipocytes, but did not affect the mRNA expression of LPL. PF-W also increased the mRNA expression of sortilin-related receptor (SorLA), a receptor that induces endocytosis and intracellular trafficking of LPL, in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Finally, cell fractionation revealed that PF-W treatment induced the expression of $C/EBP{\beta}$, a SorLA transcription factor, in the nuclei of 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Conclusion: The LPL secretion and activity assay showed PF-W to be an LPL secretion inhibitor, and these results suggest the potential mechanism of PF-W involving inhibition of LPL secretion through $C/EBP{\beta}$-mediated induction of SorLA expression.

• Atmosphere
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.467-482
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• 2010

In this study, characteristics of various stability indexes (SI) and environmental parameters (EP) for the lightning are analysed by using 5 upper air observatories (Osan, Gwangju, Jeju, Pohang, and Baengnyeongdo) for the years 2002-2006 over South Korea. The analysed SI and EP are the lifted index, K-index, Showalter stability index, total precipitable water, mixing ratio, wind shear and temperature of lifting condensation level. The lightning data occurred on the range of -2 hr~+1 hr and within 100 km based on the launch time of rawinsonde and observing location are selected. In general, summer averaged temperature and mixing ratio of lower troposphere for the lightning cases are higher about 1 K and $1{\sim}2gkg^{-1}$ than no lightning cases, respectively. The Box-Whisker plot shows that the range of various SI and EP values for lightning and no lightning cases are well separated but overlapping of SI and EP values between lightning and no lightning are not a little. The optimized threshold values for the detection of lightning are determined objectively based on the highest Heidke skill socre (HSS), which is the most favorable validation parameter for the rare event, such as lightning, by using the simulation of SI and EP threshold values. Although the HSS is not high (0.15~0.30) and the number and values of selected SI and EP are dependent on geographic location, the new threshold values can be used as a supplementary tool for the detection or forecast of lightning over South Korea.