• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.147-157
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• 1992

The fragile X syndrome, which is considered to be synonymous with the Martin-Bell syndrome, is a relatively common form of X-linked mental retardation. The syndrome seems to occure in many different ethnic groups and its prevalence among mentally retarded males has been estimated to be in the order of 2 to 6%. The karyotypic hallmark of the syndrome is made up with a pronounced constriction near each tip of the long arm of the X chromosome(fragile site), shown in vitro only under conditions in which thymidylate production is blocked(lowered folate levels). Special culture media are needed to demonstrate this constriction site. Major clinical features associated with the syndrome include macroorchidism, large or prominent ears, significant emotional and behavioral dysfunctions such as hyperactivity, self-injury, lack of eye contact and social interaction, schizophrenia, autism, etc., and speech and language dysfunctions ranging from nonverbal to verbal speech with moderate to severe expressive language delays. Some have minor clinical features in common such as an increase in birth weight high forehead, prognathism, increased head circumference in infancy and childhood which did not persist into adult life. The recent research findings have shown that the fragile X syndrome is associated with infantile autism. Many patients with the fragile X syndrome fulfill the diagnostic criteria for infantile autism. Therefore it is recommendable that any patient with developmental delays and autism or autistic manifestations should have a chromosomal analysis, including fragile X examination. In the present review, historical aspects, incidence, and clinical features are presented. Recent anecdotal reports of the association with autism and the clinical improvement following high dose folic acid treatment will be discussed.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1697-1703
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• 2012

Obesity is a risk factor for numerous metabolic diseases. Recently, naturally occurring compounds that may improve obesity have received increasing attention. Xanthigen is a mixture of fucoxanthin and punicic acid derived from brown seaweed and pomegranate seed, respectively, which have been traditionally used for lipid-lowering effects in humans. In this study, we investigated whether Xanthigen attenuates high-fat diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6N mice. The mice were fed on a normal diet (ND), high-fat diet (HFD), HFD plus 1% Xanthigen or HFD plus 1% green tea extract (GTE) for 11 weeks. Food efficiency ratio (FER) and body weight were significantly reduced in mice fed HFD plus Xanthigen compared to HFD-fed mice. Consistent with the results in body weight change, Xanthigen also significantly decreased the weights of epididymal adipose tissue, retroperitoneal adipose tissue, and liver in HFD plus 1% Xanthigen-fed mice. The serum level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol was significantly decreased in HFD plus Xanthigen-fed mice compared to HFD-fed mice. These results suggest that Xanthigen may be useful in the development of a functional health food for anti-obesity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.886-891
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• 2009

Cancer/testis (CT) antigens are immunogenic in cancer patients, exhibit highly tissue-restricted expression, and are considered promising target molecules for cancer vaccines. We investigated the expression of 13 CT genes in 29 Korean patients with primary breast carcinoma. The most frequently expressed CT genes were MAGE-3 (66%) and MAGE-1 (57%), followed by LAGE-1 (55%), NY-SAR-35 (49%), MAGE-4 (41%), NY-ESO-1 (38%), CT-7 (24%) and SSX-4 (24%), whereas SSX-1, SSX-2, MAGE-10 and NY-TLU-57 were found to be expressed significantly less often (3-7%) and SCP-l not all. Expression of at least one antigen was observed in 28 breast cancer samples. Immunohistochemistry was performed for NY-ESO-l and MAGE-3 protein expression in breast tumor samples. NY-ESO-l and MAGE-3 proteins were expressed in 11 of 29 (38%) and 12 of 29 (41 %) breast tumors. Our results suggest that CT antigens may be potential candidates for polyvalent immunotherapy in Korean breast cancer patients.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.677-685
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect on plasma levels of lipid and lipid peroxidation by administration of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus) fermented Orostachys malacophyllus (FOM) in alcohol fed rats. Male Sprague-dawley rats were randomly divided into seven groups: normal diet group (N), alcohol treated group (C), 2.5% (w/w) or 5% (w/w) OM treated group (2.5OM, 5OM), 2.5% (w/w) or 5% (w/w) fermented OM treated group (2.5FOM, 5FOM) and silymarin treated group (SM) as a positive control. As a result of measuring serum total lipid, C group were increased total lipid, free fatty acid content and were decreased HDL-cholesterol content, but 5FOM group were significantly decreased lipid content and were increased HDL-cholesterol content and accordingly reduced the incidence of atherosclerosis. Serum total protein content was similarly measured in all groups and serum albumin content was decreased in alcohol feeding groups compared to the N group. The 5FOM group had significantly decreased liver and serum triglycerides compared to the C group. The TBARS content in the liver, serum, testis, kidney, spleen, and heart were slightly decreased in the 5FOM group compared to the C group and the 5FOM group had an increased glutathione concentration. The 5FOM treatment was showed analogous results to those of the SM treatment, suggesting that FOM is can improve the lipid profiles of alcohol-fed rats.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.136-148
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• 2010

Cadmium (Cd) is known to exert gonadotoxic and spermiotoxic effects. The present study was performed to investigate the morphological effects and metallothionein (MT) expression by zinc pretreatment in the course of time of cadmium-induced testicular injury in rat. Fifty male Spraque-Dawley rats weighing 160-180 g were divided into two groups: saline-pretreated cadmium group and zinc-pretreated cadmium group. Rats of two groups received subcutaneous injection of saline and 100 mg/kg $ZnSO_4$ at 0, 2, 5 and 8 hrs intervals respectively. Cadmium chloride (4.5 mg/kg $CdCl_2$) was administrated intraperitoneally at 2 hr after zinc injection and rats were killed 0, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hrs later. Testicular tissue damages, Interstitial (Leydig) cells status and MT expression were determined using hematoxylin-eosin stained sections and a computerized image analysis system on sections immunostained with a mouse anti-metallothionein respectively. Zinc pretreatment was significantly reduced testicular damages in five pathological categories after cadmium administation. The number of surviving interstitial cells was significantly higher in the zinc-pretreated group than in the saline-preatreated group at 48 and 72 hrs after cadmium administration. Non-damaged testis showed the positivity of MT staining in spermatogenic cells, Sertoli cells and endothelium of blood vessel, but not in the Leydig cells. The potitivity of MT staining in saline-pretreated group was significantly reduced at 24 hrs after cadmium administration, whereas zinc-pretreated group showed strong MT positive staining similar to the 0 hr by 42 hrs after cadmium administration. In damaged testis, MT positive staining was also observed in the Leydig cells of both groups. These results suggest a major preventive effect of zinc against cadmium-induced testiculat toxicity may be due to its ability to reduce the cytotoxicity of cadmium in spermatogenic cells and Leydig cells by inhibiting the susceptibility of the testis to cadmium but not MT production by cadmium.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.442-453
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• 2002

A total of 64 species belonging to 23 genera of diatom fossils are identified from the Core GC 98-06 in the southern Drake Passage, Antarctica. The diatom assemblages are dominated by Actinocyclus actinochilus, Coscinodiscus asteromphalus, Eucampia antarctica, Fragilariopsis kerguelensis, Thalassiosira lentiginosa, T. ritscheri and T. anguste-lineata, which are about 73% of the assemblage. Open water species are more abundant than sea ice species in the diatom assemblages of the core. Fragilariopsis. kerguelensis and Thalassiosira lentiginosa are valuable indicators of the habitats. Especially, F. kerguelensis represent the influence of waters from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Sea ice taxa represents the influence of cold waters from Bransfield Strait Water and melt water from the sea-ice at during warm periods. The reworked diatoms such as Denticulopsis dimopha (Miocene) and D. hustedtii (Pliocene) are occurred with Quaternary species (Actinocyclus actinochilus, Fragilariopsis kerguelensis, Thalassiosira lentiginosa, and T. glacilis). The presence of reworked diatoms indicates the transportation of the older diatoms into the Drake passage from the circumference sediments, due to strong bottom current activity of Antarctic circumpolar deep water.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.1571-1579
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• 2016

We investigated the effect of peanut sprout extract (PSE) on andropause symptoms. PSE was evaluated for impotency and benign prostatic hyperplasia via phosphodiesterase (PDE) or 5-alpha reductase II inhibition assay. Inhibition of PDE and 5-alpha reductase II activities in PSE was significantly higher than that of the non-treated control. To investigate the effects of testosterone levels by PSE, we performed cell media test using TM3 cells. Production of testosterone in TM3 cells was elevated by PSE. These results indicate that PSE was able to alleviate andropause symptoms.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.23-34
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of geomorphic surfaces and investigate their geomorphological development at Sinsong-ri archaeological sites by the classification of geomorphic surfaces. The sedimentary facies of trench 1, 2 and 3 were identified and pollen analysis was performed at site 3. The geomorphic surfaces are classified by hillslope, valley plain, alluvial fan and river terrace. Most of the study area is located on low hillsides and valley plains are connected with tidal flats extended from small river valley. Also, alluvial fans are distributed over the piedmont and narrow, long river terraces are developed downstream along the Sojeong-stream flowing between valley plain and hillsides. River valleys were deeply eroded during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) periods, responded to the lowest sea level among the hillslopes and valley plains are formed during the Holocene. The sedimentary facies are identified composed of basal gravel layers with coarse gravels and sands, relatively thick culture layer of the Bronze Age and thin layer during the early Iron Age in upper part study area. Thus, land uses during the Bronze Age people was performed more intensively comparing to the early Iron Age by deforestation for habitation.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.243-248
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• 2003

Sperrnatogenesis, the process by which the male germ-line stem cells(GSCs; type A spermatogonia) divide and differentiate to produce the mature spermatozoa, occurs in the seminiferous tubules of the testis. The GSCs proliferate actively to produce two types of cells: other GSCs and differentiating spermatogonia. GSCs have unipotentcy, devoted solely to the generation of sperm. The function of GSCs has broad implications for development, disease, and evolution. Spermatogenesis is fundamental for propagation of species and the defects of this system can result in infertility or disease. The ability to identify, isolate, culture, and alter GSCs will allow powerful new approaches in animal transgenesis and human gene therapy relating to infertility. Until recently, research on stem cells in the testis has been limited because of technical difficulties in isolating and identifying these cell populations. Here, we were trying to find out optimal conditions for in vitro culture of GSCs for identifying and isolating GSCs. We collected mouse GSCs from 3-days old mouse by two-step enzyme digestion method. GSCs were plated and grown on mouse embryonic fibroblasts in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) containing 15％ fatal bovine serum, 10 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 1％ non-essential amino acids, 1 ng/$m\ell$ bFGF, 10 $\mu$M forskolin, 1500 U/$m\ell$ human recombinant leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Over a period 3∼5 days, GSCs gave rise to large multicellular colonies resembling those of mouse pluripotent stem cells. After 5th passages, cells within the colonies continued to be alkaline phosphatase and Oct-4 positive and tested positive against a panel of two immunological markers(Integrin $\alpha$ 6 and Integrin $\beta$ 1) that have been recognized generally to characterize GSCs. SSEA-1, SSEA-3, and SSEA-4 also showed positive signals. Based on our data, these GSCs-derived cultures meet the criteria for GSCs itself and even other pluripotent stem cells. We reported here the establishment of in vitro cultures from mouse male GSCs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1371-1380
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• 2013

The effect of Monascus-fermented Angelica gigas Nakai (AFAG) on the contents of serum lipids and tissue lipid peroxidation was investigated in alcohol feeding rats (Alc group). The serum contents of total lipid and free fatty acid in the alcohol feeding rats were significantly increased, but these increases tended to decrease in the AFAG group. The content of serum triglyceride was also significantly decreased in the AFAG group compared to the other groups. The serum content of total-cholesterol was not significantly different between the normal group and the AFAG group. The content of HDL-cholesterol in serum was slightly increased in the AFAG group compared to the Alc group. The content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in the liver, heart, spleen, and testis were significantly increased in the Alc group compared to the normal group, but these increases were significantly decreased in the AFAG group. The content of liver zinc was decreased in the Alc group and it was significantly increased in the AFAG group, which suggested that the lipid peroxidation contents are inversely correlated with the liver zinc content. The hepatic glutathione concentration was significantly decreased in the Alc group, but this content was significantly increased in the AFAG group, and it showed the antioxidant ability of glutathione. These activities were also compared to the standard silymarin drug treatment. Thus, the findings of the present study indicated the significant antioxidant and antihyperlipidemic activity of Monascus-fermented Angelica gigas Nakai against ethanol-induced toxicity.