• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.124-135
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• 2012

Purpose : The objective of this study was to investigate the differences of hippocampal volume and shape as well as the functional change between long life experienced taxi drivers and controls of Korean population. Materials and Methods: Three-dimensional T1-weighted images and blood oxygen level dependent functional MRI(fMRI) were obtained from 8 subjects, consisting of 4 experienced (20-30 years) taxi drivers and 4 age-matched controls. The hippocampal volume and shape were analyzed with three-dimensional T1-weighted images. In addition, neuronal activities of brain were analyzed using a blood oxygen level dependent fMRI between the two groups. Results: The hippocampal volume showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p > 0.05). The left hippocampi of the taxi drivers were slightly elongated with larger head and tail portions than those of the controls (p < 0.05, uncorrected). For the functional MRI, fusiform gyrus was specifically activated in taxi drivers, compared with the control group. Conclusion: The structural and functional changes of taxi driver's hippocampus indicate the functional differentiation as a result of occupational dependence on spatial navigation. In other words, the continuous usage of spatial navigation performance may diminish degeneration of hippocampus and the related brain regions.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.122-127
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• 2006

The effects of fermented chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) powder on the lipid concentrations and the activities of liver marker enzymes of serum in genetically diabetic Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats were investigated. Rats were fed a semisynthetic diet supplemented with 50 g/kg chaga mushroom powder (CM) or 50 g/kg fermented chaga mushroom powder (FCM) for 8 weeks (26 to 34 weeks of age). Nondiabetic Long-Evans Toknshima Otsuka (LETO) rats were used as age-matched nondiabetic control animals. Water consumption was significantly higher in the OLETF control than the LETO rats. Water consumption in the FCM-fed OLETF rats tended to be less than in both the OLETF control and CM-fed OLETF rats. Serum concentrations of triglycerides and total cholesterol were significantly higher in the OLETF control rats than in the LETO rats while within the OLETF rat groups, the consumption of FCM resulted in a significantly lower serum triglyceride concentration and slightly lowered serum total cholesterol concentration when compared to the OLETF control and CM-fed rats. The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity was significantly higher in the OLETF control than in the LETO rats, but this difference was significantly reduced compared to the CM-fed rats and essentially no difference in the ALT levels was observed between the LETO and OLETF-FCM rats. This observation suggests an adaptive effect of the fermented chaga mushroom in liver function. Livers of the LETO rats showed no histopathological changes, whereas those of the OLETF control rats were characterized by many fat depositions in the central zone of the hepatocytes. The livers of the OLETF CM-fed rats showed less fatty changes compared to the OLETF control rats and fat deposition in the hepatocytes was nearly absent. These results suggest that orally ingested fermented chaga mushroom has a potential beneficial effect on the complications known to occur in the obesity-related non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NlDDM) OLETF rat.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.545-552
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• 2017

Increasing concern is being given to the association between risk of cancer and exposure to low-dose bisphenol A (BPA), especially in young-aged population. In this study, we investigated the effects of repeated oral treatment of low to high dose BPA in juvenile Sprague-Dawley rats. Exposing juvenile rats to BPA (0, 0.5, 5, 50, and 250 mg/kg oral gavage) from post-natal day 9 for 90 days resulted in higher food intakes and increased body weights in biphasic dose-effect relationship. Male mammary glands were atrophied at high dose, which coincided with sexual pre-maturation of females. Notably, proliferative changes with altered cell foci and focal inflammation were observed around bile ducts in the liver of all BPA-dosed groups in males, which achieved statistical significance from 0.5 mg/kg (ANOVA, Dunnett's test, p<0.05). Toxicokinetic analysis revealed that systemic exposure to BPA was greater at early age (e.g., 210-fold in $C_{max}$, and 26-fold in AUC at 50 mg/kg in male on day 1 over day 90) and in females (e.g., 4-fold in $C_{max}$ and 1.6-fold in AUC at 50 mg/kg vs. male on day 1), which might have stemmed from either age- or gender-dependent differences in metabolic capacity. These results may serve as evidence for the association between risk of cancer and exposure to low-dose BPA, especially in young children, as well as for varying toxicity of xenobiotics in different age and gender groups.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1037-1046
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• 2004

Age-dependent changes in body fat can often be observed in normal population. A series of indirect body fat estimates, such as hydrodensitometry, Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis(BIA), and anthropometry equation for body fat, have been developed. The BIA made it possible to analyze body fat mass more related to hydrodensitometry than anthropometry. This study is to compare the body composition analysis between bioelectrical impedance analysis(BIA) and anthropometric measurements of women. The subjects were a group of Daejeon residents including 32 young-aged women($21.50{\pm}1.44$), 30 middle-aged women($50.33{\pm}5.27$), and 40 old-aged women($69.22{\pm}5.74$). We used BIA(inbody 3.0, Biospace Korea) to determine body fat and other body composition. We also measured weight, height, circumference for 12 parts, and skinfold thickness for 9 parts of all subjects' body. The results are as follows: The subjects' height by the age group were $161.74{\pm}0.94cm$ in the young-aged women, $154.16{\pm}1.09cm$ in the middle-aged, and $148.60{\pm}0.78cm$ in the old-aged respectively. BMI were, in order, $21.68{\pm}0.49,\;22.87{\pm}0.89,\;and\;23.85{\pm}0.55$. Relative body fat determined by BIA was, also in order, $29.06{\pm}0.92%,\;26.35{\pm}1.02%,and\;29.35{\pm}1.07%$. Circumference and skinfold that showed the highest correlation with body fat by BIA was waist in the young-aged(r=0.738) and bast in the middle- and old-aged(r=0.844, r=0.804), and triceps in the young-and old-aged(r=0.538, r=0.798), and subcostal in the middle-aged(r=0.872). Body fat Estimations by BIA were the highest correlation with Caucasian women's equation(r=0.588) in young-aged women, Siri's equation with Durnin & Womesley's body density measurement(r=0.875) in middle aged women and Caucasian women' equation(r=0.872) in old aged women. We need to develop specific anthropometric equations based on sex and age to determine body fat.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2019

Objectives Previous studies have revealed inconsistent results on amygdala volume in adult bipolar disorder (BD) patients compared to healthy controls (HC). Since the amygdala encompasses multiple subregions, the subtle volume changes in each amygdala nucleus might have not been fully reflected in the measure of the total amygdala volume, causing discrepant results. Thus, we aimed to investigate volume changes in each amygdala subregion and their association with subtypes of BD, lithium use and clinical status of BD. Methods Fifty-five BD patients and 55 HC underwent T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging. We analyzed volumes of the whole amygdala and each amygdala subregion, including the anterior amygdaloid area, cortico-amygdaloid transition area, basal, lateral, accessory basal, central, cortical, medial and paralaminar nuclei using the atlas in the FreeSurfer. The volume difference was analyzed using a one-way analysis of covariance with individual volumes as dependent variables, and age, sex, and total intracranial volume as covariates. Results The volumes of whole right amygdala and subregions including basal nucleus, accessory basal nucleus, anterior amygdaloid area, and cortico-amygdaloid transition area in the right amygdala of BD patients were significantly smaller for the HC group. No significant volume difference between bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder was found after the Bonferroni correction. The trend of larger volume in medial nucleus with lithium treatment was not significant after the Bonferroni correction. No significant correlation between illness duration and amygdala volume, and insignificant negative correlation were found between right central nucleus volume and depression severity. Conclusions Significant volume decrements of the whole amygdala, basal nucleus, accessory basal nucleus, anterior amygdaloid area, and cortico-amygdaloid transition area were found in the right hemisphere in adult BD patients, compared to HC group. We postulate that such volume changes are associated with altered functional activity and connectivity of amygdala nuclei in BD.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.229-235
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• 2020

Avian influenza virus infection, one of the most important diseases recognized in the poultry industry, is known to cause changes in cytokine and serum protein levels. However, the normal ranges and/or age-dependent changes in important cytokines and serum proteins associated with influenza infection have not been fully elucidated. In this study, the levels of cytokines (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and interferon-γ) and serum proteins (vitamin D binding protein and ovotransferrin) were determined in 1-week- to 4-week-old broilers at 1-week intervals after challenge with a low pathogenic influenza virus. The results showed that the physiological levels of cytokines and serum proteins varied with aging during the 4 weeks. The levels of interleukin-1β and interleukin-6 increased from 20% to 35% after influenza infection compared to those in the negative control group, indicating that these cytokines may be used to monitor disease progression.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 1978

This study was designed to analyse effects of Family Health Workers' activities on the performance of a child immunization program as part of the evaluative research in the community health demonstration project in Kang Wha. Frequent shortcomings of evaluative research are problems in setting evaluative indices, difficulties in interpreting influences of socioeconomic changes due to lack of control and failure of demonstrating association between activity input and program performance. Specific objectives of this study was to improve the frequent shortcoming of evaluative research by isolating the effects of Family Health Workers' activities on the performance of the program through controlling other variables which also influenced the program performance. The target population consisted of 1240 children who were born between Jan. 1971 and Dec. 1975 in Sunwon Myun, and Naega Myun in Kwang Wha Gun, Kyonggi Province. The data were collected in part through 20 Family Health Workers who interviewed the mothers of these children in their villages during Nov. 1977. Part of the data were obtained by summarizing Family Health Workers daily activity records. All data were grouped for each birth cohort according to the 20 villages. Dependent variable of the model is the measle immuinization rate of each village and the independent variables are characteristics of baby, mother, household, travel time to the health subcenter, to Kang Wha Town, and the mean member of visits to the household by Family Health Workers as well as their other related activities and the year of birth of children according to village. The model was analysed by stepwise multiple regression technique. The summarized results show that overall $R^2$ were 39.3% and mean number of Family Health Worker household visits, mean age of mother and mean economic status were significant variables in explaining the immunization rate. Therefore Family Health Workers' activities are one of the significant variables in influencing the increased immunization rate of children in villages of the project area.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.174-180
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• 2005

Antigen presenting cells (APCs), dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages, playa critical role not only in the initiation of immune responses, but also in the induction of immune tolerance. In an effort to regulate immune responses through the modulation of APC function, we searched for and characterized APC function modulators from natural products. Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum SPM1204 (SPM1204) isolated from feces of healthy Korean in the age of 20s was used in this experiment. DCs and macrophages were cultured in the presence of supernatants of SPM 1204 and then examined for their activities for the presentation exogenous antigen in association with major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) and macrophage activation. SPM1204 increased class I MHC-restricted presentation of exogenous antigen (cross-presentation) in a DC cell line, DC2.4 cells. The RAW 264.7 cell line was used to test the nonspecific effect of immune reinforcement of SPM1204 as a source of biological regulating modulator for the macrophage activation, include nitric oxide (NO) production and cytokine production. Results showed that the production of NO, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-$\alpha$, interleukin 1 (IL-1)-$\beta$ and morphological changes in macrophages were largely affected by SPM1204 in a dose-dependent manner. Our results demonstrated that SPM1204 promote cross-presentation of dendritic cells as well as the induction of NO, TNF-$\alpha$ production, and activation of macrophage.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1185-1193
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• 2007

Ginsing polysaccharide, known to have an immune regulating effect, was administered to 23 randomly selected healthy male subjects with a mean age of 23 years in accordance with an IRB approval. Then, these subjects underwent physico-chemical tests and serum proteome was analyzed from the blood sample taken from these subjects. Analyses of proteome involved image analysis, protein sections and protein identification in sequence after two-dimensional electrophoresis was carried out. During the physico-chemical test, 4 subjects were excluded from the study. In the proteome analysis, identified were 5 spots such as SP40, 40, Cytokeratin 9, hypothetical protein LOC544932, Apolipoprotein E ,similar to Human albumin, which showed differences in the amount of protein expression. In conclusion, changes of 5 proteins were remarkable before and after administration of ginsing polysaccharides. In certain cases, hepatic and renal slight injury occurred. Thus, further clinical study on dosage regimen would be necessary for securing the basis for concentration-dependent effectiveness and safety.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.837-844
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to identify fat distribution and blood pressure according to anthropometric change patterns between NIDDM patients and control subjects. Methods: Cross-sectionally 167 NIDDM patients and 87 controls were studied. Previous maximal body weight and acute weight loss was obtained. Current height, body weight, BMI, waist-hip ratio(WHR), skinfold thicknesses(abdomen, subscapular & triceps), and blood pressure was measured. Three anthropometric change patterns were categorized by BMI changes from the maximum lifetim's BMI to the current time (obese-obese, obese-nonobese and nonobese-nonobese: obese: BMI$\geq$25kg/m$^2$, nonobese: BMI<25kg/m$^2$). The data was analyzed by $X^2$, t-test, age adjusted ANCOVA and Least Squares Means(LSM) for multiple comparison. Result: Acute body weight loss(p=0.01), anthropometric change types (p=0.001), WHR (p=0.05), and skinfold thickness (p=0.002) of NIDDM were significantly higher than those of the controls. The mean arterial pressure, WHR and skinfold thicknesses were greater in both obese-obese and obese-nonobese NIDDM and control subjects compared with both nonobese-nonobese NIDDM and control subjects. (all p's<0.05). Conclusion: NIDDM patients had more central and upper body adiposicity. Also both obese-obese and obese-nonobese NIDDM and control subjects had higher mean arterial pressures and central body obesity.