• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.475-481
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• 2006

Purpose : As the prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus have become problems. High homocysteine levels and low vitamin $B_{12}$ supplementation are acknowledged to have a role in coronary artery disease, but there are few studies on homocysteine, insulin and vitamin $B_{12}$ levels in obese children. We aimed to study whether homocysteine, insulin, vitamin $B_{12}$, folic acid levels could have any difference and relation in obese children. Methods : The disease group consisted of 27 children from 8 to 11 years old, whose obesity index was over 130. The control group consisted of 30 healthy children of the same age group. Obesity index and body mass index were calculated by height and body weight of the children, and their systolic and diastolic blood pressures at resting state were checked. Total cholesterol, triglyceride, homocysteine, insulin, vitamin $B_{12}$, folic acid levels were studied after 10 hours of fasting. Intracellular fluid, extracellular fluid, protein, mineral, muscle mass, lean body fat, fat mass and fat percentages were checked by bioelectrical impedance. Results : Homocysteine levels were higher in obese children($8.1{\pm}2.1{\mu}mol/mL$ vs. $4.9{\pm}1.0{\mu}mol/mL$). Insulin levels were also higher in obese children($26.8{\pm}11.2{\mu}IU/mL$ vs. $12.5{\pm}5.24{\mu}IUl/mL$). Vitamin $B_{12}$ was lower in obese children($798.6{\pm}174.3pg/mL$ vs. $967.8{\pm}405.0pg/mL$). But there was not a difference in the folic acid levels between the two groups. In obese children, systolic blood pressure (r=0.535), triglyceride(r=0.517), total cholesterol(r=0.408), folic acid(r=0.408), vitamin $B_{12}$(r=0.338) and abdomoanl fat %(r=0.306) had a positive correlation. Conclusion : We found definite differences of insulin, homocysteine, and vitamin $B_{12}$ plasma levels in obese children, but we need more study to use those parameters as risk factors of metabolic syndrome in pediatric obese patients.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.8
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• pp.751-757
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• 2003

Purpose : Obesity is a significant health problem with medical and psychological consequences for children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation between body fat percent using bioelectrical impedance(BI) and other variable methods. Methods : We measured height, weight, body mass index(BMI) and body fat percent by skinfold thickness(ST) and BI in 1,035(496 male; 539 female) children from seven to 18 years of age. The correlation coefficients between BI and each of the other different methods were obtained. The sensitivity and specificity to predict obesity by these several methods were studied. Results : Fat percent estimated by BI analysis and BMI showed a strong correlation(r=0.749). Fat percent estimated by BI analysis and ST showed a very strong correlation(r=0.835). At the 95th percentile cut-off point for BI, ST showed a sensitivity of 57.7%, and a specificity of 97.6% for estimating body fat. At the 95th percentile cut-off point for BI, BMI showed a sensitivity of 84.9%, and a specificity of 99.3% for estimating body fat. Conclusion : The fat percent estimated by BI analysis correlated strongly with ST or BMI. BI analysis is an objective and accurate method for estimating body fat in childhood obesity.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.495-503
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• 1999

Background: We tested the technical feasibility of fetal cardiac bypass and collected baseline data on the fetal hemodynamics and placental functions related to the cardiopulmonary bypass in the fetal lamb model. Material and Method: Eleven fetuses at 120 to 150 days of gestation were subjected to bypass via trans-sternal approach with a 12 G pulmonary arterial cannula and 14 to 18 F venous cannula for 30 minutes. All ewes received general anesthesia with ketamine. In all the fetuses, no anesthetic agents were used except muscle relaxant. Eight served as a group in which placenta was excluded from the extracorporeal circulation by clamping the umbilical cord during the bypass(the oxygenator group) and in the remaining three, the placenta worked as the only source of oxygen supply(the placenta group). Observations were made every 10 minute during a 30-minute bypass and 30-minute post bypass period. No prostaglandin inhibitors were used both in ewes and in fetuses. Result: Weights of the fetuses ranged from 1.9 to 5.2 kg. In the oxygenator group, means of arterial pressure, PaO2, atrial pressure, heart rate, and bypass flow rate ranged 69.8 to 82.6 mmHg, 201.7 to 220.9 mmHg, 4.1 to 4.3 mmHg, 169 to 182/min, and 140.3 to 164.0 ml/kg/min, respectively during bypass, but rapid deterioration of the fetal cardiac functions and the placental gas exchange was observed after the cessation of bypass. In the placenta group, means of arterial pressure decreased from 44.7 to 14.4 mmHg and means of PaCO2 increased from 61.9 to 129.6 mmHg during bypass. Flow rate was suboptimal(74.3 to 97.0 ml/kg/min) during bypass. All hearts fibrillated immediately after the discontinuation of bypass. Conclusion: In this study, the technical feasibility of fetal cardiopulmonary bypass was confirmed in the fetal lamb model. However, further studies with modifications of the bypass including an addition of prostaglandin inhibitor, an application of the total spinal anesthesia on the fetus, a creation of more concise bypass circuit, and a use of active pump are mandatory to improve the outcome.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 1999

Purpose : To discuss the technical aspect of interstitial brachytherapy including method of implant, insertion time of radioactive source, total radiation dose, and complication, we reviewed patients who had diagnoses of soft tissue sarcoma and were treated by conservative surgery, interstitial implant and external beam radiation therapy Materials and Methods : Between May 1995 and Dec. 1997, ten patients with primary or recurrent soft tissue sarcoma underwent surgical resection (wide margin excision) and received radiotherapy including interstitial brachytherapy. Catheters were placed with regular intervals of 1 ~l.5 cm immediately after tumor removal and covering the critical structures, such as neurovascular bundle or bone, with gelform, muscle, or tissue expander in the cases where the tumors were close to those structures. Brachytherapy consisted of high dose rate, iridium-192 implant which delivered 12~15 Gy to 1 cm distance from the center of source axis with 2~2.5 Gy/fraction, twice a day, starting on 6th day after the surgery, Within one month after the surgery, total dose of 50~55 Gy was delivered to the tumor bed with wide margin by the external beam radiotherapy. Results : All patients completed planned interstitial brachytherapy without acute side effects directly related with catheter implantation such as infection or bleeding. With median follow up duration of 25 months (range 12~41 months), no local recurrences were observed. And there was no severe form of chronic complication (RTOGIEORTC grade 3 or 4). Conclusion : The high dose rate interstitial brachytherapy is easy and safe way to minimize the radiation dose delivered to the adjacent normal tissue and to decrease radiation induced chronic morbidity such as fibrosis by reducing the total dose of external radiotherapy in the management of soft tissue sarcoma with conservative surgery.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.133-142
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• 1991

This study was carried out to observe the change in uterine cyclic nucleotide level and the effect of PAF on cyclic nucleotides in uterine tissue in early pregnany in order to understand reciprocal relation ship between PAF and cyclic nucleotides in pregnancy in the rat. The test groups were injected intramuscularly with $1{\mu}g$ of PAF or 1.25mg of BN-52021 on day 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of pregnancy. The level of cyclic nucleotide in removed uterine tissue was assayed by using cyclic nucleotides test kits. The results showed that the cyclic AMP content in uterine tissue of non-pregnant at pro-oestrus rat was $2.91{\pm}0.33$ pmol/mg protein which was lower than those of pregnant rat. The cyclic GMP content in uterine tissue of non-pregnant rat was $0.39{\pm}0.20$ pmol/mg pro-tein which was also lower than those of pregnant rats. The maximum level in cAMP was $5.92{\pm}1.72$ pmol/mg protein on day 3 and cGMP, $1.03{\pm}0.22$ pmol/mg protein on day 4. On each day of pregnancy, PAF induced the increased cAMP level ompared with that of intact rat. That was significant on day 0, 2 and 4 of pregnancy, p<0.05, on the other hand PAF receptor antagonist, BN-52021 ecreased cAMP level in uterine tisssue. PAF as well as BN-52021 had not an consistent effect on changes in cGMP level. These results suggest that cyclic nucleotide levels in uterine tissue ware increased during early pregnancy and PAF influences cAMP level in uterine rather than cGMP level during peri-implantation period, accordingly demonstrating a possible involvement of PAF in the regulation of implantation-related events through cAMP-mediated process.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2008

Purpose : Large exon deletions in the DMD gene are found in about 60% of DMD/BMD patients. Multiplex PCR has been employed to detect the deletion mutation, which frequently generates noise PCR products due to the presence of multiple primers in a single reaction as well as the stringency of PCR conditions. This often leads to a false-negative or false-positive result. To address this problematic issue, we introduced the dual primer oligonucleotide (DPO) system. DPO contains two separate priming regions joined by a polydeoxyinosine linker that results in high PCR specificity even under suboptimal PCR conditions. Methods : We tested 50 healthy male controls, 50 patients with deletion mutation as deletion-positive patient controls, and 20 patients with no deletions as deletion-negative patient controls using DPO-multiplex PCR. Both the presence and extent of deletion were verified by simplex PCR spanning the promoter region (PM) and 18 exons including exons 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 43-48, 50-52, and 60 in all 120 controls. Results : DPO-multiplex PCR showed 100% sensitivity and specificity for the detection a deletion. However, it showed 97.1% sensitivity and 100% specificity for determining the extent of deletions. Conclusion : The DPO-multiplex PCR method is a useful molecular test to detect large deletions of DMD for the diagnosis of patients with DMD/BMD because it is easy to perform, fast, and cost-effective and has excellent sensitivity and specificity.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.9
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• pp.1075-1082
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• 2002

Purpose : Obesity is known to be associated with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and fatty liver and is thought to be associated with increased levels of free fatty acids. One of the strategies for decreasing free fatty acid levels is stimulation of hepatic lipid oxidation with L-carnitine. Carnitine is an essential cofactor for transport of long-chain fatty acid into mitochondria for oxidation. This study was designed to evaluate the changes of serum fatty acids and carnitine levels after exogenous injection of L-carnitine. Methods : Sprague Dawley rats were divided into two groups. Group A was control. Group B was given intraperitoneal injection with L-carnitine(200 mg/kg) daily for two weeks. Serum lipid (total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol) and fatty acid levels were analyzed on the first day of the first and second weeks after injection of L-carnitine. Total, free, and acyl carnitine levels also were performed by a enzymatic cycling techniques at the same day intervals. Results : There was no significant difference between the two groups in total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol levels before and after the administration of L-carnitine. But triglyceride levels were significantly decreased at the first week in group B compared with group A. Among free fatty acids, linoleic acid showed significant decrement(A group : $131.3{\pm}31.3mg/dL$ vs B group : $90.0{\pm}7.0mg/dL$) at the first week. Total, free, and acyl carnitine levels showed significant increments at all days intervals, but only free carnitine showed significant increments according to cumulative doses of carnitine. Conclusion : Plasma linoleic acid, a long-chain fatty acid, showed significant decrement after administration of L-carnitine in the first week. This may suggest that L-carnitine can be used as an antilipidemic agent for obese patients. A prospective study will investigate obese children in the future.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.389-397
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• 2018

The structure of glycan residues attached to glycoproteins can influence the biological activity, stability, and safety of pharmaceutical proteins delivered from transgenic pig milk. The production of therapeutic glycoprotein in transgenic livestock animals is limited, as the glycosylation of mammary gland cells and the production of glycoproteins with the desired homogeneous glycoform remain a challenge. The ${\beta}$-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminylatransferase1 (B3GNT1) gene is an important enzyme that attaches N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) to galactose (Gal) residues for protein glycosylation; however, there is limited information about pig glycosyltransferases. Therefore, we cloned the pig B3GNT1 (pB3GNT1) and investigated its functional properties that could attach N-acetylglucosamine to galactose residue. Using several different primers, a partial pB3GNT1 mRNA sequence containing the full open reading frame (ORF) was isolated from liver tissue. The ORF of pB3GNT1 contained 1,248 nucleotides and encoded 415 amino acid residues. Organ-dependent expression of the pB3GNT1 gene was confirmed in various organs from adult and juvenile pigs. The pB3GNT1 mRNA expression level was high in the muscles of the heart and small intestine but was lower in the lungs. For functional characterization of pB3GNT1, we established a stable expression of the pB3GNT1 gene in the porcine kidney cell line (PK-15). As a result, it was suggested that the glycosylation pattern of pB3GNT1 expression in PK-15 cells did not affect the total sialic acid level but increased the poly N-acetyllactosamine level. The results of this study can be used to produce glycoproteins with improved properties and therapeutic potential for the generation of desired glycosylation using transgenic pigs as bioreactors.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2016

Purpose By ingestion of 18F-FDG of kidney of PET/CT during the inspection, if additional examination is required, depending on whether you want to water intake, we want to confirm a change in the rate of decrease of F-18 FDG of the kidney. Materials and Methods The 80 patients without kidney disease were performed PET/CT examination. Device was analyzed after setting the kidney to a three-dimensional region of interest. In patients require additional examination, and inspection after 30 minutes, a PET/CT torso examination after the water of the 500 cc ingested at a time. After the addition of both water intake group and no hydration group of kidney of SUV, it was compared with PET/CT torso scan. Results High and low of the kidney SUV did not show a significant difference in the rate of decrease. Reduction rates of background (BKG) of additional examination was 2.8% and reduction rates of SUV was 49.7% (Hydration) : -6.8% (No hydration), so did show a significant difference. In the image blind test, the average point score of hydration and no hydration was 34.25 : 17.25. Conclusion An undercurrent of 18F-FDG in the kidney at the time of torso examination, it was confirmed that the reduction rate after the addition of water intake is high. It is considered that can be expected to improve the quality of an image due to a decrease in elongation through the kidneys examination with additional fluid intake as needed intake.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.1 s.102
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• pp.83-94
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• 2003

Concentrated releases of zinc into water usually results from discharges associated with industrial purpose. The released zinc into soil is corroded and released into water. In aquatic environment, exess zinc is toxic to the organisms and causes the growth inhibition and malformation of them as a heavy metal. In this study, excess zinc toxicity was tested by FETAX (frog embryo teratogenetic assay with Xenopus)as in vivo system. Xenopus embryos at st.9 were exposed to $100{\sim}900\;{\mu}M$ of zinc for 7 days and 81% of individuals were survived in 100 ${\mu}M$, and 25% were survived in 1000M of zinc solution. In external malformations, swelled belly and intestinal dysplasia were common, and all of tested individuals showed these malformations in 200 ${\mu}M$ or higher concentration of zinc. In 400 ${\mu}M$ or higher concentration, all of tested tadpoles showed faded heart. Also, hypo-pigmentation, lens hernia and loose digestive track were very frequently found in 100 ${\mu}M$ of zinc. The histological study with paraffin section of zinc treated tadpoles showed following abnormalities; regeneration of photoreceptor on retina, reduced vitreous chamber in eye, reduction of red blood cells in heart, abnormal liver, swelling of pronephric cell, muscle dysplasia and palatal papilloma. These abnormalities may be caused by the degeneration of mitochondria, inhibition of cell adhesion, and the formation of leghemoglobin by zinc due to the substitution of $Ca^{2+}$ by $Zn^{2+}$. The body length was reduced due to the excess zinc. From a statistical result, body lengths of 300 ${\mu}M$ or higher concentrative g개ups was significantly reduced comparing that of control group. Recently, many spontaneous malformations and reduction of amphibians are reported, From the results of present study, excess zinc mi호t be a factor of amphibian reduction, and the control of zinc discharges is very important.