• Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.182-195
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• 2018

Increasing prevalence of childhood obesity poses threats to the global health burden. Because this rising prevalence cannot be fully explained by traditional risk factors such as unhealthy diet and physical inactivity, early-life exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is recognized as emerging novel risk factors for childhood obesity. EDCs can disrupt the hormone-mediated metabolic pathways, affect children's growth and mediate the development of childhood obesity. Many organic pollutants are recently classified to be EDCs. In this review, we summarized the epidemiological and laboratory evidence related to EDCs and childhood obesity, and discussed the possible mechanisms underpinning childhood obesity and early-life exposure to non-persistent organic pollutants (phthalates, bisphenol A, triclosan) and persistent organic pollutants (dichlorodip henyltrichloroethane, polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Understanding the relationship between EDCs and childhood obesity helps to raise public awareness and formulate public health policy to protect the youth from exposure to the harmful effects of EDCs.

• Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.226-228
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• 2018

Various endocrine dysfunctions occur during chemotherapy, including hypoglycemia. However, reports of hypoglycemia associated with 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) are rare. Herein, we report an 8-year-old boy with severe symptomatic hypoglycemia likely due to 6-MP during chemotherapy. He had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia 3 years previously and was in the maintenance chemotherapy period. Treatment included oral dexamethasone, methotrexate, and 6-MP, of which only 6-MP was administered daily. Hypoglycemic symptoms appeared mainly at dawn, and his serum glucose dropped to a minimum of 37 mg/dL. Laboratory findings showed nothing specific other than increased serum cortisol, free fatty acids, ketone, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase. Under the hypothesis of hypoglycemia due to chemotherapy drugs, we changed the time of 6-MP from evening to morning and recommended him to ingest carbohydrate-rich foods before bedtime. Hypoglycemia improved dramatically, and there was no further episode during the remaining maintenance chemotherapy period. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of this type of hypoglycemia occurring in an Asian child including Korean.

• Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.229-234
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• 2018

X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets is caused by loss-of-function mutations in PHEX, which encodes a phosphate-regulating endopeptidase homolog. We report a 26-year-old man with X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets who showed decreased serum phosphate accompanied by bilateral genu valgum and short stature. He had received medical treatment with vitamin D (alfacalcidol) and phosphate from the age of 3 to 20 years. He underwent surgery due to valgus deformity at the age of 14 and 15. Targeted gene panel sequencing for Mendelian genes identified a nonsense mutation in PHEX (c.589C>T; p.Gln197Ter) and a mosaic pattern where only 38% of sequence reads showed the variant allele. This mutation was not found in his mother, who had a normal phenotype. This is a case of a sporadic nonsense mutation in PHEX and up to date, this is the first case of a mosaic mutation in PHEX in Korea.

• Endocrinology and Metabolism
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.435-444
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• 2018

The prevalence of chronic diseases including osteoporosis and sarcopenia increases as the population ages. Osteoporosis and sarcopenia are commonly associated with genetics, mechanical factors, and hormonal factors and primarily associated with aging. Many older populations, particularly those with frailty, are likely to have concurrent osteoporosis and sarcopenia, further increasing their risk of disease-related complications. Because bones and muscles are closely interconnected by anatomy, metabolic profile, and chemical components, a diagnosis should be considered for both sarcopenia and osteoporosis, which may be treated with optimal therapeutic interventions eliciting pleiotropic effects on both bones and muscles. Exercise training has been recommended as a promising therapeutic strategy to encounter the loss of bone and muscle mass due to osteosarcopenia. To stimulate the osteogenic effects for bone mass accretion, bone tissues must be exposed to mechanical load exceeding those experienced during daily living activities. Of the several exercise training programs, resistance exercise (RE) is known to be highly beneficial for the preservation of bone and muscle mass. This review summarizes the mechanisms of RE for the preservation of bone and muscle mass and supports the clinical evidences for the use of RE as a therapeutic option in osteosarcopenia.

• 축산식품과학과 산업
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.58-65
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• 2020

우울증은 동기, 의욕, 관심, 주의력, 정신기능 및 식욕의 감소를 특징으로 하는 일종의 기분 장애이다. 우울증은 유전적, 내분비 및 환경적 스트레스를 포함한 다양한 원인에 의해 발생하지만 가벼운 우울증은 식이요법으로 개선되는 것으로 보고되었다. 따라서 우울증 환자를 치료하기 위해서는 기능성 및 영양 보충제를 포함한 다양한 식품 공급원이 필요하다. 치즈에는 숙주 건강에 유익한 영향을 미치는 생리 활성 펩타이드가 포함되어 있다. 특히 저지(Jersey) 우유는 홀스타인(Holstein) 우유보다 고형분 함량이 높은 것으로 보고되었다. 이 연구는 저지(Jersey) 와 홀스타인(Holstein) 우유의 가우다 치즈(Gouda cheese)가 만성 스트레스(CUMS, chronic unpredictable mild stress)에 미치는 영향을 조사했다. 치즈를 먹인 만성 스트레스 마우스 모델의 개선적 변화는 젖소 종에 관계없이 통계적으로 유의미하게 효과적으로 나타났다. 흥미롭게도 PCR을 통한 분변 미생물 균총 분석에서 저지 치즈를 섭취함으로써 Bacteroidetes가 증가하고 Firmicutes가 유의적으로 감소하는 것으로 나타났다. 종합하면, 본 연구는 치즈 섭취가 스트레스 개선 작용이 있음을 제시하며, 특히 장내 미생물 균총의 유익한 방향으로의 변화가 관찰되는데, 치즈의 생리활성물질 혹은 장내미생물 균총의 대사물질들이 이러한 행동·정신학적 개선 작용과의 연관성이 있음을 시사한다.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.16-19
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• 2021

Cushing's disease (CD) is a rare illness characterized by chronic hypercortisolism secondary to the overproduction of adrenocorticotropic hormone by a pituitary adenoma, which is associated with a high risk of developing serious complications, such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and emotional disorders. Endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery is performed for the treatment of CD, and was initially preferred over other types of treatments. However, the recurrence after pituitary surgery for CD is a common problem after an initial successful surgery. In microadenomas, the remission rates were higher than those of macroadenoma. This patient had a giant tumor that was greater than 4 cm in length on sella magnetic resonance imaging, and panhypopituitarism was detected using a combined pituitary stimulation test. After transsphenoidal surgery, the patient required temporary hormone replacement for a short period of time. After 1 year, he showed a normal cortisol response on the overnight dexamethasone suppression test and low morning cortisol levels. Therefore, we indicated that the patient was cured of giant macroadenoma with panhypopituitarism before surgery, and thus, reported this case.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.567-573
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• 2019

Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) is a rare disorder of the proximal femur in adolescents. The pathogenesis of SCFE is unclear, but it is believed to be the result of a mechanical insufficiency of the proximal femur physis. SCFE appears to caused by mechanical, endocrinal, and immunological abnormalities. Few cases have reported the SCFE associated with endocrine disorder in the domestic literature, particularly in patients over 20 years old. This paper reports two cases of SCFE associated with hypopituitarism in adults over 20 years old.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.257-264
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• 2009

A neurotoxin, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) has been widely used to create animal model for Parkinson's disease (PD) due to its specific toxicity against dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Since DA signals modulate a broad spectrum of CNS physiology, one can expect profound alterations in neuroendocrine activities of both PD patients and 6-OHDA treated animals. Limited applications of 6-OHDA injection model, however, have been made on the studies of hypothalamuspituitary neuroendocrine circuits. The present study was performed to examine whether blockade of brain catecholamine (CA) biosynthesis with 6-OHDA can make any alteration in the transcriptional activities of hypothalamus-pituitary hormone genes in adult male rats. Three-month-old male rats (SD strain) were received 6-OHDA ($200{\mu}g$ in $10{\mu}\ell$ of saline/animal) by intracerebroventricular (icv) injection, and sacrificed after two weeks. To determine the mRNA levels of hypothalamuspituitary hormone genes, total RNAs were extracted and applied to the semi-quantitative RT-PCRs. The mRNA levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme for the catecholamine biosynthesis, were significantly lower than those from the control group (control:6-OHDA=1:0.72${\pm}$0.02AU, p<0.001), confirming the efficacy of 6-OHDA injection. The mRNA levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) in the hypothalami from 6-OHDA group were significantly lower than those from the control group (GnRH, control:6-OHDA=1:0.39${\pm}$0.03AU, p<0.001; CRH, control:6-OHDA=1:0.76${\pm}$0.07AU, p<0.01). There were significant decreases in the mRNA levels of common alpha subunit of glycoprotein homones (Cg$\alpha$), LH beta subunit (LH-$\beta$), and FSH beta subunit (FSH-$\beta$) in pituitaries from 6-OHDA group compared to control values (Cg$\alpha$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.81${\pm}$0.02AU, p<0.001; LH-$\beta$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.68${\pm}$0.04AU, p<0.001; FSH-$\beta$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.84${\pm}$0.05AU, p<0.001). Similarly, the level of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) transcripts from 6-OHDA group was significantly lower than that from the control group (control: 6-OHDA=1:0.86${\pm}$0.04AU, p<0.01). The present study demonstrated that centrally injected DA neurotoxin could downregulate the transcriptional activities of the two hypothalamus-pituitary neuroendocrine circuits, i.e., GnRH-gonadotropins and CRH-ACTH systems. These results suggested that hypothalamic CA input might affect on the activities of gonad and adrenal through modulation of hypothalamus-pituitary function, providing plausible explanation for frequent occurrence of sexual dysfunction and poor stress-response in PD patients.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.21-36
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• 2017

Phthalates, known as typical endocrine disruptors, are plasticizers used to soften plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Because of their material properties, phthalates are used extensively in the production of toys, flooring, wood processing, detergents, and even cosmetics as lubricants and perfume solvents. Due to their endocrine disrupting effect and other adverse health effects published, recently, phthalates have been regulated in many countries. Besides, in an effort to replace phthalates, several chemical plasticizers such as trioctyltrimellitate (TOTM) and dioctylterephthalate (DIOP) have been used instead of the existing harmful phthalates, and novel alternatives are continuously being developed. Nonetheless, phthalates are still being detected in several plastic products, and the safety of alternatives that are considered safe is being questioned. In this review, we describe the adverse health effects of phthalates, their regulation and the current status of their alternatives.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.59-76
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• 1988

In order to know the distribution, relative frequencies, types and morphology, endocrine cells in the intestinal tract of the hedgehog(Erinaceus koreanus) were studied by light microscopy, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. Two kinds of endocrine cells were demonstrated with two specific staining methods. Argyrophil cells(reactive cells for Grimelius method) were found most frequently in the intestinal region, and were infrequent in the rectum, whereas argentaffin cells (reactive cells for Masson-Hamperl method) were found most frequently in the rectum and in the other legions were infrequent. These reacting cells were mainly found in the intestinal glands, whereas a small number in the mucosa. 2. Twelve kinds of endocrine cells, gastrin(Gas)-, somatostatin (Som)-, serotonin(5-HT)-, glucagon(Glu)-, bovine pancreatic polypeptide(Bpp)-, cholecystokinin(Cck)-, secretin(Sec)-, motilin(Mot)-, glicentin(Gli)-, gastric inhibitor polypeptide(GIp)-, substance P(Sp)-, and neurotensin(Neu)-immunoreactive cells, were identified by immunohistochemical method. Gas-, Som-, 5-HT-, Glu-, Cck-, Sec-, Mot-, Gli-, Sp-, and Neu-reactive cells were observed in the duodenum, and among these Gas- and 5-HT-reactive cells were moderately found while the others were infrequent. In the jejunoileum Gas-, Som-, 5-HT-, Glu-, Cck-, Mot-, Gli-, GIp-, SP-, and Neu-reactive cells were found, and among these 5-HT- and GIp-reactive cells were moderately found while the others were infrequent. In the colon Sec-reactive cell was not detected. 5-HT-reactive cells were found most frequently and the others were infrequent in this region. 5-HT-, Bpp-, GIi- and Neu-reactive cells were found in the rectum. Among these 5-HT-reactive cells were found most frequently. 3. Electron microscopically, five types of endocrine cells, EC, ECL, D, G, A-like cell, were identified in the intestinal region. EC and ECL cells in the duodenum, EC, D and G cells in the jejuno-ileum, EC and A-like cells in the colon and EC cell in the rectum were observed respectively.