• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.136-145
• /
• 1997

We are report on three cases of typical clinical characterstics and treatment response in neuroleptic maligant syndrome(NMS), and reviewed the literatures of NMS. NMS was first recognized as a life-threatening complication of dopamine receptor antagonists, and defined as a catatonic-like states associated with fever, obtundation, muscle rigidity, and unstable vital sign in patients taking neuroleptic agents. Concepts of NMS have changed because medications other than classic neuroleptic drugs have been implicated as triggering agents and syndromes identical to NMS have been observed in other conditions. The important neurochemical features are probably functional dopamine deficiency and ensuing hyperactivity of excitatory amino acid neurotransmission in the basal ganglia and hypothalamus. Recognition of NMS and early discontinuation of neuroleptics are the most important step in its management. Supportive care includes management of hyperthermia and fluid replacement. Controversial therapeutic measures include the application of dopamine receptor agonists, excitatory amino acid antagonists, or dantrolene. Psychiatric patients with a history on NMS and psychotic relapse necessitating antipsycotics do not commonly redevelop NMS.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.149-155
• /
• 1996

Doctors who treat pregnant women ore usually cautious in writing their prescription for the drugs. The problem of which psychotropic medications ore sale during pregnancy seems to remain unsolved for many years. Although the rate of absorption is reduced due to a reduced rate of gastric emptying, the extent of absorption of drug is generally unchanged during pregnancy. Plasma volume and total body water increase during pregnancy. There is suggestion that drug metabolizing activity may be increased in pregnancy. Since the pregnancy increase the glomerular filtration rate significantly, drugs mainly eliminated by renal excretion will be cleared more quickly. Factors contributing to the potential teratogenecity of a drug include the type of compound, dose and duration of use, developmental stage of fetus at the time of exposure, and the effect of the drug on fetal pharmacokinetics. All major classes of psychotropic agents should be assumed to diffuse readily across the placenta to the fetus and to be present in some quantity in the breast milk. To decide when and how to start the drug treatment depends on an assessment of the risks related both with and without drug treatment of psychiatric disorders.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.33-46
• /
• 2018

Gray mold (Botrytis cinerea) is one of the most common diseases of strawberries (Fragaria${\times}$ananassa Duchesne) worldwide. Although many chemical fungicides are used for controlling the growth of B. cinerea, the risk of the fungus developing chemical resistance together with consumer demand for reducing the use of chemical fungicides have necessitated an alternative method to control this pathogen. Various naturally occurring microbes aggressively attack plant pathogens and benefit plants by suppressing diseases; these microbes are referred to as biocontrol agents. However, screening of potent biocontrol agents is essential for their further development and commercialization. In this study, 24 strains of yeast with antagonistic ability against gray mold were isolated, and the antifungal activity of the volatile and diffusible metabolites was evaluated. Putative mechanisms of action associated with the biocontrol capacity of yeast strains against B. cinerea were studied through in vitro and in vivo assays. The volatile organic compounds produced by the Galactomyces candidum JYC1146 could be useful in the biological control of plant pathogens and therefore are potential alternative fungicides with low environmental impact.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.91-98
• /
• 2021

The current social demand for organic, sustainable, and eco-friendly approaches for farming, while ensuring the health and productivity of crops is increasing rapidly. Biocontrol agents are applied to crops to ensure biological control of plant pathogens. Research on the biological control of white root rot disease caused by a soil-borne pathogen, Rosellinia necatrix, is limited in pears compared to that in apple and avocado. This pathogenic fungus has an extensive host range, and symptoms of this disease include rotting of roots, yellowing and falling of leaves, wilting, and finally tree death. The severity of the disease caused by R. necatrix, makes it the most harmful fungal pathogen infecting the economical fruit tree species, such as pears, and is one of the main limiting factors in pear farming, with devastating effects on plant health and yield. In addition to agronomic and cultural practices, growers use chemical treatments to control the disease. However, rising public concern about environmental pollution and harmful effects of chemicals in humans and animals has facilitated the search for novel and environmentally friendly disease control methods. This review will briefly summarize the current status of biocontrol agents, ecofriendly methods, and possible approaches to control disease in pear orchards.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.11.1-11.26
• /
• 2022

When epithelial cells are exposed to potentially threatening external stimuli such as allergens, bacteria, viruses, and helminths, they instantly produce "alarmin" cytokines, namely, IL-33, IL-25, and TSLP. These alarmins alert the immune system about these threats, thereby mobilizing host immune defense mechanisms. Specifically, the alarmins strongly stimulate type-2 immune cells, including eosinophils, mast cells, dendritic cells, type-2 helper T cells, and type-2 innate lymphoid cells. Given that the alarm-raising role of IL-33, IL-25, and TSLP was first detected in allergic and infectious diseases, most studies on alarmins focus on their role in these diseases. However, recent studies suggest that alarmins also have a broad range of effector functions in other pathological conditions, including psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. Therefore, this review provides an update on the epithelium-derived cytokines in both allergic and non-allergic diseases. We also review the progress of clinical trials on biological agents that target the alarmins and discuss the therapeutic potential of these agents in non-allergic diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.1164-1169
• /
• 2005

Characteristics of sophorolipid and rhamnolipid were evaluated as antifungal agents against plant pathogenic fungi. Eight percent of mycelial growth of plant pathogen (Phytophthora sp. and Pythium sp.) was inhibited by 200 mg/l of rhamnolipid or 500 mg/l of sophorolipid, and zoospore motility of Phytophthora sp. decreased by $90\%$ at 50 mg/l of rhamnolipid and $80\%$ at 100 mg/l of sophorolipid. The effective concentrations for zoospore lysis were two times higher than those of zoospore motility inhibition. The highest zoospore lysis was observed with Phytophthora capsici; $80\%$ lysis at 100 mg/I of di-rhamnolipid or lactonic sophorolipid, showing the dependency of structure on the lysis. In the pot test, the damping-off disease incidence ratio decreased to $42\%\;and\;33\%$ of control value at 2,000 mg/l sophorolipid and rhamnolipid, respectively. These results showed the potential of microbial glycolipid biosurfactants as an effective antifungal agent against damping-off plant pathogens.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.42 no.11
• /
• pp.804-809
• /
• 2019

Oncogenic gain-of-function mutations are clinical biomarkers for most targeted therapies, as well as represent direct targets for drug treatment. Although loss-of-function mutations involving the tumor suppressor gene, STK11 (LKB1) are important in lung cancer progression, STK11 is not the direct target for anticancer agents. We attempted to identify cancer transcriptome signatures associated with STK11 loss-of-function mutations. Several new sensitive and specific gene expression markers (ENO3, TTC39C, LGALS3, and MAML2) were identified using two orthogonal measures, i.e., fold change and odds ratio analyses of transcriptome data from cell lines and tissue samples. Among the markers identified, the ENO3 gene over-expression was found to be the direct consequence of STK11 loss-of-function. Furthermore, the knockdown of ENO3 expression exhibited selective anticancer effect in STK11 mutant cells compared with STK11 wild type (or recovered) cells. These findings suggest that ENO3-based targeted therapy might be promising for patients with lung cancer harboring STK11 mutations.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.34 no.7
• /
• pp.1972-1984
• /
• 2013

Microtubules play an important role in intracellular transport, mobility, and particularly mitosis. Paclitaxel (Taxol$^{TM}$) and paclitaxel-like compounds have been shown to be anti-tumor agents useful for various human tumors. Paclitaxel-like compounds operate by stabilizing microtubules through interface binding at the interface between two ${\beta}$-tubulin monomers in adjacent protofilaments. In this paper we present the elucidation of the structural features of paclitaxel and paclitaxel-like compounds (e.g., epothilones) with microtubule stabilizing activities, and relate their activities to spatial and chemical features of the molecules. CATALYST program was used to generate three-dimensional quantitative structure activity relationships (3D-QSARs) resulting in 3D pharmacophore models of epothilone- and paclitaxel-derivatives. Pharmacophore models were generated from diverse conformers of these compounds resulting in a high correlation between experimental and predicted biological activities (r = 0.83 and 0.91 for epothilone and paclitaxel derivatives, respectively). On the basis of biological activities of the training sets, five- and four-feature pharmacophore hypotheses were generated in the epothilone and paclitaxel series. The validation of generated hypotheses was achieved by using twelve epothilones and ten paclitaxels, respectively, which are not in the training sets. The clustering (grouping) and merging techniques were used in order to supplement spatial restrictions of each of hypothesis and to develop more comprehensive models. This approach may be of use in developing novel inhibitor candidates as well as contributing a better understanding of structural characters of many compounds useful as anticancer agents targeting microtubules.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.46 no.4
• /
• pp.280-284
• /
• 2003

To develope of diagnosis and estimation system for utility of fungicides and insecticides as crop protection agents, various 10 physicochemical parameters, hydrophobicity (LogP), dipole moment (DM), HOMO energy, LUMO energy, molar refractivity $(MR:\;cm^3/mol)$, polarizability $(Pol:\;A^3)$, van der Waals molecular surface area $(A^2)$, van der Waals molecular volume $(Vol:\;cm^3)$, molecular weight (amu), hydration energy (Kcal/mol) for the active ingredients of 133 fungicides and 152 insecticides were calculated. And then the distribution ranges for each of the physicochemical parameters in fungicides, sterol biosynthesis inhibitors (DMI: demethylation inhibitor), insecticides and acetylcholine esterase inhibitors (AChE) were confirmed. It is suggested that the various compounds based on the range of the physicochemical parametes could be predicted for possibilities as fungicides and insecticides.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.203-209
• /
• 2006

Azoles are widely used antifungal agents, which inhibit the biosynthesis of fungal cell-membrane ergosterol. In this study, using an amphibian follicle culture system, the effects of azoles on follicular steroidogenesis in frogs were examined. Itraconazole (ICZ), clotrimazole (CTZ) and ketoconazole (KCZ) suppressed pregnenolone ($P_5$) production by the follicles ($ED_{50};\;0.04_{\mu}M,\;0.33_{\mu} M,\;and\;0.91_{\mu}M$, respectively) in response to frog pituitary homogenates (FPH). However, fluconazole (FCZ), miconazole (MCZ) and econazole (ECZ) were not effective in the suppression of $P_5$ production. Not all the azoles examined suppressed the conversion of exogenous $P_5$ to progesterone ($P_4$) (by $3{\beta}$- HSD) or $P_4$ to $17{\alpha}$-hydroxyprogesterone ($17{\alpha}$-OHP) (by $17{\alpha}$-hydroxylase), or androstenedione (AD) to testosterone (T) (by $17{\beta}$-HSD). In contrast, CTZ, MCZ and ECZ in medium partially suppressed the conversion of $17{\alpha}$-OHP to AD (by C17-20 lyase) ($ED_{50};\;0.25{\mu} M,\;4.5{\mu}M,\;and\;0.7{mu}M$, respectively) and CTZ, KCZ, ECZ and MCZ strongly suppressed the conversion of exogenous T to estradiol ($E_2$) (by aromatase) ($ED_{50};\;0.02{\mu}M,\;8{\mu}M,\;0.07{\mu}M,\;0.8{\mu}M$, respectively). These results demonstrated that some azole agents strongly suppress amphibian follicular steroidogenesis and particularly, P450scc and aromatase are more sensitive to azoles than other steroidogenic enzymes.