• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.403-408
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) method of detecting noroviruses in artificially and naturally contaminated shellfish. We used 58 fecal samples that tested positive for noroviruses with electron microscopy (EM) to develop an NASBA assay for these viruses. Oligonucleotide primers targeting the polymerase coding region were used to amplify the viral RNA in an isothermal process that resulted in the accumulation of RNA amplicons. These amplicons were detected by hybridization with digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotide probes that were highly specific for genogroup I (GI) and genogroup II (GII) of noroviruses. The expected band of 327bp appeared in denaturing agarose gel without any nonspecific band. The specific signal for each amplicon was obtained through Northern blotting in many repeats. All fecal samples of which 46(79.3%) belonged to GII and 12(20.6%) belonged to GI were positive for noroviruses by EM and by NASBA. Target RNA concentrations as low as 5pg/ml were detected in fecal specimens using NASBA. When the assay was applied to artificially contaminated shellfish, the sensitivity to nucleic acid was 100pg/1.5g shellfish tissue. The potential use of this assay was also confirmed in naturally contaminated shellfish collected from different ponds in Guangzhou city of China, of which 24 (18.76%) out of 128 samples were positive for noroviruses; of these, 19 (79.6%) belonged to GII and 5 (20.4%) belonged to GI. The NASBA assay provided a more rapid and efficient way of detecting noroviruses in fecal samples and demonstrated its potential for detecting noroviruses in food and environmental samples with high specificity and sensitivity.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.339-343
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• 2009

Recently, co-delivery of drug and gene has been attempted for higher therapeutic effects of anticancer agents. In this study, cationic liposomes were prepared using 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammoniopropane (DOTAP) as a cationic lipid to investigate the effect of drug loading on the physicochemical characteristics of cationic liposomes/DNA complexes. The complex formation between cationic liposomes and negatively charged plasmid DNA was confirmed and the protection from DNase was observed. Particle size of complexes was reduced not by drug loading, but by the increased ratio of cationic lipid to plasmid DNA. Meanwhile, zeta potential of complex was increased by the addition of cationic liposomes to complexes and the effect of drug loading on the zeta potential was not much higher than on particle size. Gel retardation of complexes was indicated when the complexation weight ratios of cationic lipid to plasmid DNA were higher than 24:1 for drug free complexes and 20:1 for drug loaded ones, respectively. Agarose gel retardation showed the similar complexation between plasmid DNA and drug free liposomes or drug loaded liposomes. Both complexes protected plasmid DNA from DNase independent of complexation temperature. From the results, drug loading may affect not the complex formation of cationic liposomes and plasmid DNA, but the particle size of complex.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2010

Sperm chromatin integrity is essential for successful fertilization and development of an embryo. Reported here is a quantification of DNA fragments which is intimately associated with reproductive potential to provide one of criteria for sperm chromatin integrity. Three sperm populations were considered: CONTROL (no treatment), UV irradiation (48mW/$cm^2$, 1h) and $H_2O_2$ (oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide, 10 mM, 50 mM and 100 mM). DNA fragments in boar sperm were evaluated by using ligation-mediated quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (LM-qPCR) assay, which relies on real-time qPCR to provide a measure of blunt 5' phosphorylated double strand breaks in genomic DNA. The results in agarose gel electrophoresis showed no significant DNA fragmentation and no dose-dependent response to $H_2O_2$. However, the remarkable difference in shape and position was observed in melting curve of LM-qPCR. This result supported that the melting curve analysis of LM-qPCR presented here, could be more sensitive and accurate than previous DNA fragmentation assay method.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.413-427
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• 1997

Porphyromonas endodontalis and Prevotella intermedia are black-pigmented anaerobic gram negative rods which have been isolated from infected root canals and submucous abscesses of endodontic origin. And they are associated with clinical symptoms such as pain, percussion, and foul odor. It has been reported that there are 3 serotypes according to capsule membrane in P. endodontalis and 2 DNA homology groups and 3 serotypes in P. intermedia, but there is no data available regarding genetic diversity for the species P. endodontalis and P. intermedia. The purpose of this study is to investigate genetic diversities between individual strains of P. endodontalis and P. intermedia which are indistinguishable by serotyping and biotyping using bacterial DNA restriction endonuclease analysis. 45 teeth with at least one clinical symptoms, with single canal, and with pulp necrosis were sampled. For sampling bacteria, access cavity was prepared after disinfecting tooth and its surroundings. Then the paper point was inserted to the apex of the canal, leave there for 15 seconds, and finally it was placed into PRAS Ringer's solution and PBS solution. P. endodontalis and P. intermedia were identified by biochemical test and IIF after subculturing black and brown colonies which were produced after 7 days of incubation on BAP in anaerobic chamber. P. endodontalis and P. intermedia strains were grown in BHI broth and whole genomic DNA was extracted by phenol-chloroform extraction technique and digested by restriction endonuclease, Eco RI and Pst I. The resulting DNA fragments were separated by agarose gel electrophoresis, stained with EtBr and photographed under UV light. The results were as follows : 1. In both P. endodontalis and P. intermedia, different serotypes could be found within a root canal of same patient. 2. There were obvious genetic heterogeneity within a patient and within a serotype in both P. endodontalis and P. intermedia. 3. P. endodontalis serotype c, isolated from different patients, exhibited limited genotypic diversity.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.381-388
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• 2001

The present study was designed to obtain porcine growth hormone binding protein (pGHBP) improved biological activation as derived mutation in binding site with growth horlnone (GH). A 756 bp of fragment encoding the extracellular domain of pGHBP gene was cloned from the total RNA of porcine fat tissue by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and created mutation in positions 26 and 122 using site-directed mutagenesis method. Position 26 is one and it is near to get on five potential N-linked glycosylation sites located in the extracellular domain of porcine growth hormone receptor known to have a direct influence on combination with GH. Position 122 is known as one of conformational epitope in bovine. It was over-expressed in E. coli using pET-32(c) expression vector and precisely purified by S-protein agarose and enterokinase. In our results, we was obtained pmGHBP of 30 kDa. It suggests to study the effects of the pmGHBP on cell proliferation in vitro and growth rate in vivo after administration.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.257-262
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• 2005

Mitochondrial DNA (mt DNA) sequence analysis has been a useful tool for species identification of animals and human individuals. Two hypervariable regions (HV1 and HV2) in control region of mitochondrial genome were analyzed for human individual identification. In case of animal species identification, several genes on mt DNA such as cytochrome b (cytb), RNAs, cytochrome oxidases (CO) were used. In this study, co-amplification of HV1 and cytb was carried out in order to check the contamination of animal DNA and to verify the human DNA. The primer sets used in PCR were H15997/L16236 for HV1 and H14724/L15149 for cytb. PCR products for HV1 and cytb were 239 bp and 425 bp, respectively. The appearance of two bands on agarose gel implied the DNA came from human, however the single band of cytb gene represented the non-human animal DNA.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.126-130
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• 1998

A pair of designed primers (sequences from Gene Bank) amplified 16S fRNA gene of V. vulnificus within polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine. This PCR product is about 1.3kb DNA fragment. Six enzymes (BamH I, Alu I, Sau3A I, Hind III, Sal I, Sma I) were used for restriction pattern analysis of amplified 16S rRNA gene of V. vulnificus ATCC 27562. Digested fragments are resolved by 3% agarose gel. BamH I did not show digested fragment so, there was no cutting site of BamH I in PCR product. Alu I produced three small fragments from 400 bp to 200 bp. Sau3A I produced three fragments larger than Alu I from 70 bp and 500 bp. One of fragments of Sal I was same with 500 bp of Hind III fragment and the other was 750 bp. Sma I showed two fragments of 800 bp and 470 bp. The profile of digested fragments of 16S rRNA of V.vulnificus ATCC 27562 will may be able to use standard profile for identification of V. vulnificus.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.210-220
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• 2019

Objectives : Warm needling is a combined treatment technique of acupuncture and moxibustion. In this study, we aimed to find out the components related with the thermal stimulation of the warm needling and to provide basic data for the guideline of the warm needling technique in the clinic. Methods : In this study, we measured thermal change of 3% agarose phantom embedding K-type thermocouples in depths of 0, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 mm. The warm needling was performed with acupuncture needles of various specifications (0.50×30, 0.50×40, 0.30×30, 0.30×40, 0.20×30 and 0.20×40 mm). A linear regression analysis was performed to find out the major component and quantify the effectiveness of the thermal stimulation during warm needling. Results : As a result of the measurement of temperature change, we could observe the thermal change pattern from the surface of the phantom to the 16mm deep part of the phantom. The thermal pattern was similar among the needles of different specifications. The regression analysis pointed the distance between the moxa cautery and the skin surface as the main component for the thermal stimulation of the warm needling. Conclusions : The authors suggest considering the distance between moxa cautery and the skin rather than the diameter of the acupuncture needle in accordance to the result of the study.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.57-62
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• 1999

Light-regulated translation of chloroplast mRNAs requires nuclear-encoded trans-acting factors that interact with the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of these mRNAs. A set of four proteins (60, 55, 47, and 38 kDa) that bind to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA had been identified in C. reinhardtii. 47 kDa protein (RB47) was found to encode a chloroplast poly (A)-binding protein (cPABP) that specifically binds to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA, and essential for translation of this mRNA, cDNA encoding 60 kDa protein (RB60) was isolated, and the amino acid sequence of the encoded protein was highly homologous to plants and mammalian protein disulfide isomerases (PDI), normally found in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Immunoblot analysis of C. reinhardtii proteins showed that anti-PDI recognized a distinct protein of 56 kDa in whole cell extract, whereas anti-rRB60 detected a 60 kDa protein. The ER-PDI was not retained on heparin-agarose resin whereas RB60 was retained. In vitro translation products of the RB60 cDNA can be transported into C. reinhardtii chloroplast in vitro. Immunoblot analysis of isolated pea chloroplasts indicated that higher plant also possess a RB60 homolog. In vitro RNA-binding studies showed that RB60 modulates the binding of cPABP to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA by reversibly changing the redox status of cPABP using redox potential or ADP-dependent phosphorylation. Site-directed mutagenesis of -CGHC- catalytic site in thioredoxin-like domain of RB60 is an unique PDI located in the chloroplast of C. reinhardtii, and suggest that the chloroplast PDI may have evolved to utilize the redox-regulated thioredoxin like domain as a mechanism for regulating the light-activated translation of the psbA mRNA.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1985.08b
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• pp.7-18
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• 1985

Light-regulated translation of chloroplast mRNAs requires nuclear-encoded trans-acting factors that interact with the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of these mRNAs. A set of four proteins (60, 55, 47, and 38 kDa) that bind to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA had been identified in C. reinhardtii. 47 kDa protein (RB47) was found to encode a chloroplast poly (A)-binding protein (cPABP) that specifically binds to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA, and essential for translation of this mRNA, cDNA encoding 60 kDa protein (RB60) was isolated, and the amino acid sequence of the encoded protein was highly homologous to plants and mammalian protein disulfide isomerases (PDI), normally found in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Immunoblot analysis of C. reinhardtii proteins showed that anti-PDI recognized a distinct protein of 56 kDa in whole cell extract, whereas anti-rRB60 detected a 60 kDa protein. The ER-PDI was not retained on heparin-agarose resin whereas RB60 was retained. In vitro translation products of the RB60 cDNA can be transported into C. reinhardtii chloroplast in vitro. Immunoblot analysis of isolated pea chloroplasts indicated that higher plant also possess a RB60 homolog. In vitro RNA-binding studies showed that RB60 modulates the binding of cPABP to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA by reversibly changing the redox status of cPABP using redox potential or ADP-dependent phosphorylation. Site-directed mutagenesis of -CGHC- catalytic site in thioredoxin-like domain of RB60 is an unique PDI located in the chloroplast of C. reinhardtii, and suggest that the chloroplast PDI may have evolved to utilize the redox-regulated thioredoxin like domain as a mechanism for regulating the light-activated translation of the psbA mRNA.