• 한방안이비인후피부과학회지
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.66-88
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• 2021

Objectives : This study aims to report 3 cases of systemic atopic dermatitis improved by Korean medicine hospitalization care. Methods : Unlike outpatients, inpatients were supervised their lifestyle including dietary habits by physicians every morning and daily treated with acupuncture, herbal medicine including Bangpungtongseongsan-gagam, and Hwangryunhaedok-tang wet dressing therapy during all week. For dressing preparation, Hwangryunhaedok-tang was used to skin lesion except face. Mixed decoction of Lonicerae Flos and Forsythiae Fructus was used to facial lesion. Hwangryunhaedok-tang pharmacopuncture was injected to 2 patients. Western oral medicine and injection such as antihistamine or corticosteroids were prescribed by physician depending on each patient's condition. Symptoms were assessed with SCORAD index, IGA, and taking photos. Results : All patients showed the decrease in SCORAD index, IGA, skin lesion amelioration, and patient-subjective improvement. As time passes, dependence on western treatment also decreased and patients were able to endure pruritus without antihistamine injection during hospitalization. Conclusions : This study suggests that Korean medicine hospitalization care including acupuncture, herbal medicine, external therapy is effective for improving atopic dermatitis through decrease SCORAD index, IGA and ameliorating skin lesion.

• 영어영문학
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• 제55권6호
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• pp.1163-1191
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• 2009

As many critics do, this article starts from the premise that Charles Waddell Chesnutt wrote The Conjure Woman with a distinct socio-ethical view to ameliorating white readers' racism. For this purpose of social activism, first, the author uses a racially submissive genre and narrator- antebellum plantation-dialect fiction and an old ex-slave Julius-in order to win the attention of white racists, who constituted the majority of the reading public of postbellum America. Chesnutt then allows this seemingly submissive ex-slave consecutively to wage narrative battles against a Northern white capitalist, John. This fiction's structure is thus based on interracial narrative conflict. Granted, the result of these narrative battles is Julius's defeat. Even though he sometimes has narrative success through his manipulation of either his white female auditor's sentimentalism or the white capitalist's racial prejudice, it does not lead to any fundamental change in the white audience members' awareness: John still regards Julius's tacitly reformoriented tales merely as nonsensical ghost stories invented by the absurd imagination of a subservient, entertaining, and exploitable black coachman. Admitting his defeat, Julius relinquishes his original goal of deterring John's capitalist exploitation of both racial Others and the natural environment of the South and finally decides to serve the economic power of white capitalism. This self-defeating conclusion, however, should not be identified with Chesnutt's failure as an author. Rather, it should be understood as an interim result of the black author's earnest experiment with literary media best suited to his reform project. In fact, this narrative failure reveals Chesnutt's accurate diagnosis of the postbellum literary world: a black voice is still feebly heard and even easily buried by the whites' capitalist ambition and consequently intensifying racism. Conclusively, Julius's narrative failure should be positively evaluated as Chesnutt's one step further in his gradual and lifelong progress to a narrative goopher effectively to engage whites' imagination and sympathy for a vision of equal interracial coexistence.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

Background: Abandoned coal piles after the closure of mines have a potential negative influence on the environment, such as soil acidification and heavy metal contamination. Therefore, revegetation by efficient species is required. For this, we wanted to identify the role of Silene acaulis in the succession of coal piles as a pioneer and a nurse plant. S. acaulis is a well-studied cushion plant living in the Arctic and alpine environments in the northern hemisphere. It has a highly compact cushion-like form and hosts more plant species under its canopy by ameliorating stressful microhabitats. In this research, we surveyed vegetation cover on open plots and co-occurring species within S. acaulis cushions in coal piles with different slope aspects and a control site where no coal was found. The plant cover and the similarity of communities among sites were compared. Also, the interaction effects of S. acaulis were assessed by rarefaction curves. Results: S. acaulis was a dominant species with the highest cover (6.7%) on the coal piles and occurred with other well-known pioneer species. Plant communities on the coal piles were significantly different from the control site. We found that the pioneer species S. acaulis showed facilitation, neutral, and competition effect in the north-east facing slope, the south-east facing slope, and the flat ground, respectively. This result was consistent with the stress gradient hypothesis because the facilitation only occurred on the north-east facing slope, which was the most stressed condition, although all the interactions observed were not statistically significant. Conclusions: S. acaulis was a dominant pioneer plant in the succession of coal piles. The interaction effect of S. acaulis on other species depended on the slope and its direction on the coal piles. Overall, it plays an important role in the succession of coal piles in the High Arctic, Svalbard.

• 대한본초학회지
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.11-17
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• 2021

Objective : This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Effects of Akebia quinata (AQ) extract on alcohol-induced damage of liver, spleen and thymus in rats. Method : Experimental animals were divided in to 4 groups; Normal group, Alcohol group, AQ50 group and AQ200 group. All rats, except for Normal group, were fed 25 % ethanol for 55 days. During experimental period, Normal group and Alcohol group were administrated saline, and AQ50 group and AQ200 group were administrated AQ extract at dose of 50 and 200 mg/kg/day, respectively. We measured organ weight, liver triglyceride contents, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and triglycerid levels in serum. Also, we conducted histomorphometry and histopathological observation of liver, spleen and thymus. Results : AQ significantly decreased the level of AST, ALT and triglyceride in serum and the liver triglyceride contents induced by ethanol. Also, AQ significantly inhibited lipid droplets accumulation in hepatocytes. The decreased relative organ weight of spleen and thymus by ethanol were increased by AQ administration. In histopathological analysis of spleen, the rats administrated AQ 200 mg/kg presented significantly increased mean diameters of white pulps, numbers of white pulps and splenic thicknesses. The administration of 200 mg/kg AQ improved decreased lobular thickness and cortex thickness of thymus, which were decreased by ethanol. Conclusions : The results of present study indicated that AQ has an ameliorating effect for fatty degeneration of liver and damage of spleen and thymus.

• 한국컴퓨터정보학회논문지
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.193-203
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• 2022

본 연구는 앱을 이용한 홈 트레이닝이 비만중년여성의 대사증후군 위험이자 및 동맥경화지수 변화를 분석하여 COVID-19의 펜데믹 시대에 비만 개선의 하나의 중재방법으로 제시하고자 실시되었다. 연구의 대상자는 비만중년여성 33명을 대상으로 앱 홈트레이닝 그룹(AHTG) 15명, 통제그룹 (CG) 18명을 모집하여 8주간의 앱을 이용한 홈트레이닝을 주 3회 실시하였다. 이 연구 결과 AHTG의 대사증후군 위험요인 중 WC(p<.001)는 유의하게 감소하고 HDL-C(p<.05)는 유의하게 증가하였으며, 동맥경화지수는 LDL-C/HDL-C(p<.01) 유의하게 증가하였다. 따라서 COVID-19 펜데믹 시대에 PA는 여러 만성질환에 대한 개선 효과 외에도 심각한 COVID-19 대유행을 완화 하는데 중요한 역할을 하며 앱을 이용한 홈트레이닝이 비만 및 대사증후군을 예방에 효율적인 중재 방법이 될 수 있는 가능성을 확인하였다.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제45권6호
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• pp.425-434
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• 2022

The post-translational modification (e.g., phosphorylation) of estrogen receptor α (ERα) plays a role in controlling the expression and subcellular localization of ERα as well as its sensitivity to hormone response. Here, we show that ERα is also modified by UFM1 and this modification (ufmylation) plays a crucial role in promoting the stability and transactivity of ERα, which in turn promotes breast cancer development. The elevation of ufmylation via the knockdown of UFSP2 (the UFM1-deconjugating enzyme in humans) dramatically increases ERα stability by inhibiting ubiquitination. In contrast, ERα stability is decreased by the prevention of ufmylation via the silencing of UBA5 (the UFM1-activating E1 enzyme). Lys171 and Lys180 of ERα were identified as the major UFM1 acceptor sites, and the replacement of both Lys residues by Arg (2KR mutation) markedly reduced ERα stability. Moreover, the 2KR mutation abrogated the 17β-estradiol-induced transactivity of ERα and the expression of its downstream target genes, including pS2, cyclin D1, and c-Myc; this indicates that ERα ufmylation is required for its transactivation function. In addition, the 2KR mutation prevented anchorage-independent colony formation by MCF7 cells. Most notably, the expression of UFM1 and its conjugating machinery (i.e., UBA5, UFC1, UFL1, and UFBP1) were dramatically upregulated in ERα-positive breast cancer cell lines and tissues. Collectively, these findings implicate a critical role attributed to ERα ufmylation in breast cancer development by ameliorating its stability and transactivity.

• 아태비즈니스연구
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.175-192
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• 2021

Purpose - In this study, we investigate the effects of government environmental subsidies and the globalization Chinese firms on their profitability using return on assets (ROA). Design/methodology/approach - In this study, a merged data including accounting, financial market, subsidization of the Chinese governments, local and the central, and export activities of 19,563 year-firms, for those listed on Shanghai Stock and Shenzhen Stock Exchange for 11 years from 2008 to 2018 is used. We collect subsidy data from RESSET database and financial data from CSMAR database. Then, we empirically test the test hypotheses using fixed effects models (FEM) separately and in a simultaneous equation model (SEM). Findings - Firstly, the globalization of Chinese firms has a negative impact on their profitability for some years after the year. Secondly, environmental subsidies just like other subsidies have ameliorating effects on financial performance for global firms. Such effects have lasted some years. Thirdly, environmental investments have a mostly negative impact on short- and long-term profitability for global firms. Lastly, the government's environmental subsidies in China have a positive effect on their profitability for both global and domestic firms. Research implications or Originality - We can infer that environmental investments with the help of the governmental subsidies can help Chinese firms deploy global strategies to expand markets to surpass competitors in the long run despite worsening profitability in global markets in the short run.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제64권4호
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• pp.727-739
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• 2022

Mycotoxin contamination in pig feeds has a negative impact on growth performance, the immune system, and major body organs. Arginine (Arg) plays an important role in animals' body biochemistry and physiology. This study aimed to determine the effect of dietary Arg supplementation on mitigating the negative effects of mycotoxins in growing pigs. A total of 72 growing pigs (Landrace × Large white) with initial mean body weight (BW) = 55 ± 2.5 kg were allotted to four treatment groups with three replicates per group of six pigs per replicate in a completely randomized design. The treatments included a non-toxin diet with 1.2% Arg (NT1.2) and mycotoxin-challenged treatments supplemented with 1.2% Arg (TX1.2), 1.3% Arg (TX1.3), and 1.4% Arg (TX1.4). Statistical analysis of data included the effects of dietary level of Arg. The results indicated a significantly higher BW (p < 0.05), average daily gain (p < 0.05), and gain-to-feed ratio (p < 0.05) in the NT1.2 group than in the TX1.2, TX1.3, and TX1.4 groups. The relative weight of the liver was higher (p < 0.05) in the TX1.2 compared to that of the NT1.2 group, although it was not different from that of TX1.3 and TX1.4. The level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha was significantly up-regulated (p < 0.05) in the liver tissue of the TX1.2 group compared to that of the other treatments. Overall, dietary Arg supplementation remedied liver injury and alleviated the compromised immune system caused by mycotoxin toxicity.

• 대한본초학회지
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2015

Objectives : The present study was conducted to examine whether Toosendan Fructus has an ameliorative effect on diabetes-induced alterations such as oxidative stress and inflammation in the pancreas of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, a model of human type I diabetes. Methods : Extracts of Toosendan Fructus (ETF) were administered to NOD mice at three doses (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg). Mice at 18 weeks of age were measured glucose tolerance using intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test. After 28 weeks of ETF treatment, glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and proinflammatory cytokines in serum, western blot analyses and a histopathological examination in pancreas tissue, and on the onset of diabetes were investigated. Results : The results showed that levels of glucose, glucose tolerance, TC, TG, interferon-${\gamma}$, interleukin (IL)-1 ${\beta}$, IL-6, and IL-12 in serum were down-regulated, while IL-4, IL-10, SOD, and catalase significantly increased. In addition, ETF improved protein expression of proinflammatory mediaters (such as cyclooxygenase-2, and inducible nitric oxide synthase) and a proapoptotic protein (caspase-3) in the pancreatic tissue. Also, in the groups treated with ETF (100 mg/kg or 200 mg/kg), insulitis and infiltration of granulocytes were alleviated. Conclusions : Based on these results, the anti-diabetic effect of ETF may be due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect. Our findings support the therapeutic evidence for Toosendan Fructus ameliorating the development of diabetic pancreatic damage via regulating inflammation and apoptosis. Our future studies will be focused on the search for active compounds in these extracts.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제47권2호
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• pp.228-236
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• 2023

Background: QiShen YiQi pills (QSYQ) is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula, which has a significant effect on the treatment of patients with myocardial infarction (MI) in clinical practice. However, the molecular mechanism of QSYQ regulation pyroptosis after MI is still not fully known. Hence, this study was designed to reveal the mechanism of the active ingredient in QSYQ. Methods: Integrated approach of network pharmacology and molecular docking, were conducted to screen active components and corresponding common target genes of QSYQ in intervening pyroptosis after MI. Subsequently, STRING and Cytoscape were applied to construct a PPI network, and obtain candidate active compounds. Molecular docking was performed to verify the binding ability of candidate components to pyroptosis proteins and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) induced cardiomyocytes injuries were applied to explore the protective effect and mechanism of the candidate drug. Results: Two drug-likeness compounds were preliminarily selected, and the binding capacity between Ginsenoside Rh2 (Rh2) and key target High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1)was validated in the form of hydrogen bonding. 2 μM Rh2 prevented OGD-induced H9c2 death and reduced IL-18 and IL-1β levels, possibly by decreasing the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, inhibiting the expression of p12-caspase1, and attenuating the level of pyroptosis executive protein GSDMD-N. Conclusions: We propose that Rh2 of QSYQ can protect myocardial cells partially by ameliorating pyroptosis, which seems to have a new insight regarding the therapeutic potential for MI.